Mad World
by Harleyquinnzelz
Summary: 'Surely something must be growing here, right' In which something dark and dangerous lurks in Derry and it is up to a group of friends to stop IT, whatever the cost. Or in which Annie Jackson learns that there are some people worth fighting for, no matter how scared you are. 'Because otherwise, how do you forgive yourself for your rotting' EddiexOC
1. Annie Jackson Takes a Trip

_**Annie Jackson Takes a Trip**_

Evenings were devoted to the sacred art of front-porch sitting and the sipping of sweet tea, when the orchestra of the night, the bullfrog croaks and the cricket chirps and the ringing of cicadas, would rise into a cacophony all around her and Annie Jackson would sit and listen, eyes closed and heartbeat steady in her chest and she and the world around her seemed to become _one. _

There were miles of forest around her home, a large Antebellum nestled carefully amongst the trees, and at night it seemed every creature hidden amongst those leaves and limbs came alive to sing to her. They seemed to say, _You may be alone, Annie, but you aren't really. You have us, Annie. You always have us. _

It was one of the things Annie loved about this house, but it was not the _only _thing. She loved the big wraparound porch and the long driveway, the only entrance leading to Annie's secret world, her magic castle hidden within the enchanted forest. She loved the huge kitchen with the old wood stove in the corner, even if she never used it, more in favor of the modern gas stove. She loved the grand foyer with its crystal chandelier. She loved the massive magnolias and willows that seemed to fight for dominance in the front yard, casting the property with some kind of wonderland splendor. _Here _you could find all kinds of fairies and nymphs and sprites. _Here _you could find magic of all sorts and perhaps you would find the most elusive creature herself, _Annie Jackson_ holed up inside a home that was much too big for one person on her own.

That's what Chantelle Stevens had told Annie ten years prior when Annie had purchased the property. She had shaken her head and rolled her eyes and asked Annie what she wanted some old house like that for anyway when she could rent out a modern and tasteful flat in the city. She had told Annie that she would get lost in a place like this, all alone with nobody to find her.

Annie hadn't quite known how to explain to Chantelle then that perhaps she was already lost in the first place.

When Annie had bought this house, still high on her exhilaration of success, she had not intended to live in it alone. She had expected right from the very beginning that when she got married they would live right here, in this historic home with its big fireplaces and hardwood floors. They would raise their kids here, would have cookouts in the backyard and eat dinners in the dining room. Here, Annie Jackson would have a second go at having a family and perhaps on this do-over nothing would be around to fuck it up.

She supposed that had been subconscious though because Annie Jackson had not thought about the stone that had caused the ripples that had torn her family apart. She had only been a kid then.

As a matter of fact, Annie had not thought about being a kid in _years, _not until her phone had started to ring, the sound startling her out of her reverie. She had checked the number and wondered who on Earth could be calling her from Maine of all places. She did not know anyone in Maine, not since her mother had died there some five years prior, and even then she had never gotten calls from her mother.

Any calls about work would come through Chantelle but they certainly wouldn't come this late and so it was more out of curiosity than anything that had Annie picking up the phone.

"Hello?" She had asked, carefully polite. Suppose they had the wrong number? Better to let them know now than the have them blowing up her phone trying to reach so-and-so.

"Hello. Is this Annie Jackson?"

"Yes."

Okay, so scratch that, not a wrong number. Perhaps a potential client had gotten hold of her personal number and given it a call. Annie pursed her lips at the thought. It was too late for anyone to be making a business call. Maybe they did things differently up North, but down South, you showed some consideration for-

"It's Mike Hanlon."

It seemed even the frogs and the crickets and the cicadas fell silent around her and all Annie could hear was her heart _beatbeatbeating _in her chest, too fast to be healthy, and for the first time in nearly thirty years, Annie felt fear run down her spine like the coldest winter. She felt like she might freeze from the fear, might die from it.

"Hello? Annie?"

"I'm here," she breathed, clutching the phone like a lifeline. She reached blindly with her other hand, searching for the sweating glass of tea, desperately needing something to soothe her dry throat.

_Derry, Maine,_ she thought. _My God, but it's been a long time since I've thought of Derry. _

And why not? Derry suddenly seemed to be the place that contained all of her worst childhood memories, contained within like a snow globe. _But, _she thought, _it also seemed as if it might contain some of her best memories as well. _

At her feet, as if sensing his master's unease, Renly raised his head from his nap, looking up at her with some concern. Annie was reminded, inexplicably, of her childhood dog Ghost and a shudder ran up her spine.

She tilted her glass back and drank and drank until there was nothing left but ice cubes. She needed something stronger, needed something strong enough to fend off the memories she felt brimming just below the surface now, memories that Annie thought perhaps she did not want back at all.

"Mike Hanlon," Annie said finally, her voice sounding light and airy and a little erratic. "Goddamn Mike Hanlon, it's been a helluva long time."

Yes, it had been. A helluva long time, what felt like a whole _lifetime _had passed since then.

"Yes," he agreed. "Too long."

_Not long enough_, Annie thought, fighting off the urge to laugh and tell him he had called the wrong number after all and that as far as Mike Hanlon was concerned Annie Jackson was dead, Annie Jackson was _gone, _and any news he had for her he could keep to himself, thank you very much.

Because Annie felt suddenly as if some part of her knew what Mike was calling about, felt as if some part of her had known for weeks and had been anticipating exactly this.

"Well go on then, Mike," Annie told him tiredly. "You'd better give me the news."

"It's happening again," Mike told her finally. "Like when we were kids. Do you remember?"

Remember? What Annie remembered was gut-wrenching, all-consuming fear that made her insides coil up inside her. That's what she remembered. And this Mike Hanlon… he was somebody she had known then, in this other life, in this other time.

"No," she told him honestly. "Not exactly. I remember being scared though. It was something bad, wasn't it?"

At her feet, Renly whined, getting to his feet and pressing his cold nose into her hand, offering what little comfort he could. Annie reached up and began to pet him absently.

"Yes," Mike said. "We made a promise back then, all those years ago."

She remembered standing in a circle, gripping Stan Uris' hand in her left and Eddie Kaskpbrak's in her right and being filled then with the strongest sense of love for this circle of people around her, so strong it was overwhelming. She would have fought for them back then, would even have been willing to die for them. They had been her best friends once upon a time, and on that hot summer day in the Barrens, they had cut their palms and gripped each other's hands and made a promise, a swear. If it ever came back, they would come back to Derry, and they would kill it. Kill it. Kill _IT. _

Annie sucked in a breath, her heart starting back up with the drum solo in her chest while Mike patiently waited for her answer on the other end of the phone.

"I remember," she told him, feeling suddenly like a thirteen-year-old girl again.

Mike had lived right next door to her, she remembered suddenly. Their fathers had been friends. Daddy used to go over and help Mr. Hanlon get that damned old Ford of theirs running again each year when it would get pulled out of its hibernation at the beginning of each Spring.

"I'm sorry to have to ask this Annie," Mike began, and to his credit he sounded as if he really was. "Will you come?"

She thought of him as he had been then, quick as a whip, but an outsider just like the rest of them had been. He had been a sweet boy, a thoughtful boy. He didn't want to have to ask her to come any more than she wanted to agree to do it. But they both knew how this song and dance would go, how it had to go.

"Well I don't guess I have much of a choice," she mused. "We promised. We all did. Have you talked to the others? Will they come?"

"I've talked to some of them, yes," Mike told her, sounding relieved by her answer. "They'll come, I think. All of them. At least, I hope they will."

"Yes," Annie agreed, feeling suddenly with absolute conviction that they all had to be there. "I hope so too."

Almost without thinking, Annie stood from the chair, grabbing her glass and heading for the front door, Renly half a step behind her as she entered her hideaway, her secret castle where nobody was meant to find her.

But Mike Hanlon had found her alright, and he had brought a whole army of demons with him.

"Well I guess I'd better make some travel arrangements," Annie told him. "Louisiana is a long way from Maine."

"I'd suppose you'd better," he agreed with a humorous laugh. "Anything I can do to help."

"Sure," she told him. "Reserve me a room at the Townhouse and make sure there's a damn big bottle of Malibu waiting for me. I think I'm going to need it."

They said their goodbyes and Annie headed straight to the kitchen, her gut clenching in anticipation at what felt suddenly like the death march of a woman heading to the gallows. _Here she is ladies and gentlemen, the woman you've all been waiting for, about to make the last trip of her whole life. It's time for Annie Jackson to head home, time for her to head home at long last. _

Well okay, okay perhaps it was, but if you think Annie Jackson was about to go through this whole sordid business sober then boy do I have a bridge to sell you.

She opened her laptop on the edge of the kitchen island and clicked into her favorite travel site before heading to the cabinet and fetching a wine glass. She had opened up the fridge to pull out her bottle of Rosé waiting inside but thought better of it at the last minute and grabbed the bottle of Malibu instead.

Wine was all very well and good for casual drinking, but Malibu was what Annie drank when we wanted to get absolutely rat-faced drunk and forget her own goddamned name because Annie liked the taste of coconut rum and she could drink _a lot _of it. Enough to forget her name, maybe enough to become somebody else if she really tried. Annie had never gotten that close in the past but tonight Annie was considering taking up the drinking sport, was thinking of going for the gold.

_Who is Annie Jackson_? she thought with a shrill little giggle. _Sorry, don't know her. _

Renly didn't like this at all it seemed, the dog pacing restlessly behind her as Annie poured more than a generous helping of rum right into her wineglass.

_Ghost had done that too, whenever Annie had been scared or anxious. _She spent a whole lot of time back then feeling scared or anxious.

Ghost had been a damned good dog, Annie thought with a fond smile. Good in the way that dogs are good in the movies, brave and loyal. He had saved her life three times that summer, at_ least_ three times. And maybe saved her life after that summer too, when she and Daddy had escaped from the black hole that Mama had become one winter night, when she had threatened to consume everything around her and had come at Annie with a crazed look in her eye and the demand that Annie stay _right there with her goddamnit, so help me Paul you aren't taking my daughter out of this house. _

But so help me, Paul Jackson had done just that, loading Annie into the pickup after Ghost had taken a chunk out of her mother's arm for grabbing Annie's wrist with a force she had not prior believed her mother to be capable of.

And when Annie and Daddy had escaped out into the bitter cold night, Ghost had been right on Annie's heels, leaping up into the cab of the truck with her as Mama ran out yelling that _If you leave then you stay gone goddamnit, don't you ever come back here again! _

And Annie hadn't goddamnit, had stayed gone because she was convinced then, as she was convinced now that she would die in Derry, just as her mother had died.

She hadn't even gone to the funeral, bitter and angry at her mother as she was. Even with the woman dead, Annie couldn't escape that anger.

Renly whined again and Annie smiled down at the dog, reminded once more of Ghost, despite the two dogs not looking much alike, nevermind the fact that they were both German Shepherds. Ghost had been white as snow but Renly was dark-haired, more traditionally colored. But like Ghost, he was a good dog, one of the best dogs the world had ever seen, Annie thought vaguely.

Yes, Ghost had saved her life that summer, had been willing to die for her and, Annie supposed, she maybe would have died for that dog, because that's what you do when you love something. When you _really _love something.

She loved Ghost, and she loved Renly too. Dogs were safe to love, loved back with an unconditional ferocity that Annie found to be mostly unrivaled within her own species. It's why she preferred Renly's company to most humans. But she had had friends who were loyal back then, oh yes she had. Friends who she loved fiercely and friends who had loved her fiercely back, and then there had been… _what? _

She felt something else there, blocked from memory but so _achingly _close, and it felt like the answer to a question she had not even known she'd been asking. She had had friends, and she had had something _more. _

She took a drink of rum and reached down to pet Renly absently again. "Okay bud," she told him. "I think you'd better just stay here at home, where it's safe."

But then she looked down at him, gazing up at her with those big, sweet brown eyes of his and was struck by the image of Ghost leaping at something, of Ghost with blood at his mouth and fire in his eyes, Ghost protecting her and loving her and being there with her and Annie thought, _Okay, better not. Okay, you're coming with me, bud, because like it or not, I guess we're in this together. _But deep down, maybe Annie was just afraid to go alone, and Renly had been her most constant companion in recent years, holed away in this too-big house with nothing else but scratchy old records and unfinished paintings for company.

With a resigned sigh, Annie turned back to her computer and got the number of the airline, choosing to call them instead. She had traveled enough times with Renly in tow to know the deal by now.

Actually, funnily enough, she had taken Renly to the vet earlier in the week to get checked for a clean bill of health, intending to fly him with her to a gallery opening in Atlanta over the weekend. Damn, another thing to worry about, Chantelle would have to postpone that. Still, it was almost spooky, like it was meant to happen.

Finally, somebody answered the phone and, over the next twenty minutes, Annie haggled with them over getting herself and Renly onto the plane, claiming the last seat in first class and the last spot in cargo for a dog crate on the next flight to Portland. She would have to pack and fly like the devil to get to the airport in time, but Annie thought she could make it.

After hanging up with the airline, Annie made another call, this time to a rental place in Portland claiming the very last SUV they had available. Things just kept falling into place and it sent a chill down Annie's spine.

_You just get yourself packed and try not to think about it, _she thought, immediately setting into action, leaving her wine glass full of rum on the kitchen island, marooned and forgotten there while she headed upstairs to start shoving things into a suitcase.

Jeans, shirts, underwear, pajamas, Annie hardly stopped to consider what she was shoving inside of her bag, paying more attention to the fact that she was likely about to get ripped a new one by her manager.

Hitting the call button, Annie balanced the phone between her ear and shoulder, waiting for Chantelle to finally pick up with an annoyed _hello. _

"I can't make the gallery opening this weekend," Annie told her immediately, listening to the way Chantelle sucked in her breath through her teeth.

Annie had known Chantelle Stevens for going on now fifteen years when she had first really started to gain momentum as an artist. Three years out of art school, Annie had only just managed to cross the bridge between _starving _artist and just a regular artist. Chantelle was five years older than her, had been born and raised in the Bronx, and if there was any single person on Earth that Annie didn't want to piss off, it was Chantelle Stevens.

Even now, Annie could picture her in her head, sitting on the ultra-sleek, ultra-modern, ultra-chic leather couch in the living room of her equally classy New Orleans flat, cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth and a glass of bourbon in hand.

"What the _hell _do you mean you can't make the gallery opening?" Chantelle asked enough toxicity in her tone to make Annie wince.

"Something has come up," Annie explained to her, tossing socks into the bag and moving into her bathroom. "I have to fly up to Maine tonight."

"What kind of business do you have in Maine? _What _has come up?"

"Can't I just say that something has come up and leave it at that?" Annie asked hopefully, piling toiletries up onto the counter.

What the hell was she supposed to say to Chantelle? She had to go and fight the ghosts from her past? _HA! _Annie was so sure that would go over great.

"_Anne… " _

So that was a no. Heaving a sigh, Annie brought the small mountain of toiletries over to the suitcase, tossing them in and zipping the bag up with little regard to organizing them.

She hated it when people called her Anne, and that was what everyone seemed to want to call her now. _Anne Jackson. _It sounded so… cold. Sterile. Annie hated that name, had been Annie as long as she'd been alive, and didn't care much one way or the other if it sounded like a little girl's name.

"An emergency came up in the town where I used to live, in Derry. I have to go, Chantelle."

"Your mother is already dead," Chantelle pointed out. She had been one of the few people who had supported Annie's decision _not _to go to her mother's funeral.

"Yes," Annie sighed again. "Look it's not about her, okay. It's something else, and I can't tell you. I just need you to make whatever excuses you need to make to get me out of the gallery opening."

"But-"

"Look," Annie interrupted her. "In fifteen years, have I ever flaked out on you? Have I ever made excuses to _not _do my job?"

"No," Chantelle admitted with a sigh. "I'll do what I can. When will you be back?"

"I don't know," Annie grabbed her bag off the bed and started out of the room, flipping the switch behind her. At the last minute, she paused, turning to look over her shoulder at her bedroom, comforting and cozy. There was no telling when she would see it again. _If _she would see it again.

"Annie!"

"Chantelle," she countered. "I gotta do this, okay. I just have to. Do you understand?"

"No," the other woman grumbled, sounding suddenly very tired. "I can't believe after all these years, you're finally showing your true colors, just another batshit insane artist."

"Maybe," Annie told her wryly. Maybe she _was _batshit, after all.

"You call me when you get back. And whatever you're doing Annie… be careful."

* * *

Annie made it to the airport with no time to spare, and it wasn't until she settled back into her seat that she allowed herself to breathe, closing her eyes and just _existing _for a long moment until she was interrupted by the flight attendant asking her if she'd like something to drink.

Annie sent her away quickly leaned back in her chair, feeling that cold sense of dread already working itself into a knot in her stomach. Better not to put alcohol on top of that.

She thought suddenly of that glass filled with rum, still sitting on the kitchen island, forgotten there in her haste and _laughed _making the woman sitting in the seat beside her look at Annie in alarm.

Gripping the arms of her seat, Annie leaned back and closed her eyes once more, deciding it best to try and get some sleep. After all, there would be no telling when she would get the chance again.

Derry, Maine felt suddenly a million miles away, a world away, a _lifetime _away.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**** Okay so some of you may remember when I first attempted this story, back when IT Chapter One came out. Well here you have my second attempt, a rewrite of sorts. I'm twenty-four chapters deep into the rewrite and I'm so excited to be posting this! **

**So this story will be updated every Thursday! If you want to see any of the things I've made for this story, you can follow me on my tumblr, at harleyquinnzelz . tumblr . com! I'd really love for you guys to tell me what you think! I love Annie a lot and I'm just super pleased to finally be sharing this story with you guys, as it means a lot to me. **


	2. School's Out For Summer

_**School's Out For Summer**_

It had been during the summer between third and fourth grade that Annabel Jackson and her family first moved to Derry, Maine from the small town of Grand Isle in southern Louisiana. It had seemed as if the family had simply shown up out of nowhere one day, settling down on one of the farms on Whitcham Road and unloading their belongings from the back of the truck.

Upon first glance, the family of four seemed almost perfect, _too perfect. _Blonde-haired and blue-eyed, every single one of them, Paul Jackson was tall and broad-shouldered with arms corded with muscle, Shirley Jackson was lovely and statuesque with hair the color of corn silk that waterfalled down her back, and between the two of them they had two beautiful daughters, Annie and Amy, both of whom looked remarkably similar to their mother.

In that first summer, Annie had been on the precipice of turning nine while Amy was only three years old but small for her age and frequently ill. Rumour quickly spread throughout town that the sudden exodus of the family from Louisiana to Maine was because the youngest daughter had been diagnosed with cancer. This had not seemed so unusual, Derry Home Hospital had improved by leaps and bounds in recent years and offered excellent cancer treatments.

It was not until many years later, when Annie really started to think about it, that she would realize just how strange it all was that of all the towns in all the country her parents would choose little Derry, Maine. But at nine years old, all Annie knew was that she had been pulled away from the town where she had spent all of her very short life.

There was no beach in Derry, no sound of crashing waves to lull her to sleep. The closest thing they had to the ocean in Derry was the Penobscot River which, her father told her, eventually emptied out into the ocean, the _actual _ocean, not the Gulf of Mexico.

That was all very well and good, but eventually was not _here_, and the most interesting place in Derry was the impossibly lush, forested place that most everyone in town called the Barrens.

It was down into the Barrens that Annie retreated each day during that summer, fleeing from the sterile environment of her own home in favor of the shock of green forest and muggy warmth.

Annie had to grow up quickly following Amy's diagnosis, had learned that she needed to help when she could and stay out of the way when she couldn't.

Annie spent a whole lot of time back then staying out of the way.

That was how she first came across the others one day when she had ventured down to the quarry to explore. With a pink cowgirl hat on and a shiny sheriff badge pinned to the front of her pretty blue dress, Annie was all set to play the part of a cowgirl in the wild, wild west.

She had heard them before she ever saw them, their voices carrying through the thick undergrowth, and when she finally emerged from the brush she was pleasantly surprised to find four boys around her age trying to skip rocks.

She had hesitated there, just beyond the greenery, unsure what to say, until one of the boys, the one wearing glasses, had looked up to see her there.

"Holy shit!" He cried, catching the attention of the others and making Annie jump.

Now it seemed she was even more unsure what to say, not quite knowing how to respond to somebody her age using a word that she _definitely _was not allowed to use.

"Hello," she said finally, wringing the hem of the skirt of her dress nervously between her hands. Part of her was tempted to retreat back into the trees. She hadn't been mentally prepared to meet anybody new down here after all. But the other part of her was so grateful to have found other kids her age and that was the part that had her offering these boys a small smile. "I'm Annie. My family just moved to Derry."

There was a moment of silence as the four boys stood before her, seemingly sizing her up before one finally stepped forward and offered her a friendly smile. "Hi Annie," he began. "I'm B-Bi-Bill."

"I'm Richie," The boy who had originally noticed her spoke up now, stepping forward to seize her hand and giving it a vigorous shake, taking Annie aback. "This is Stan," he pointed first to the boy with the curly hair, " and Eddie," and finally to the last boy, who was smaller than the other three.

"I like your hat," Stan told her kindly and she offered him a beaming smile.

"Thanks!" She said. "I got it for my birthday!"

"Hey, w-we're skipping rocks. You w-wa-want to t-try?" Bill asked.

Annie nodded eagerly, glad to be included. "Yeah!" she said. "My Daddy showed me how!"

"Good," Richie said. "Then you can show us how."

And just like that, she had a group of friends with whom to start the new school year. They were her _best _friends, she would tell her family a week later while they were all sitting around the dinner table. She had never had _best _friends before, not like this, only girls who she had shared classes with in the past that Annie had played with because there had been few other options.

Nevermind the fact that her mother didn't like that she was running around with a group of boys, who cared? At least Annie wasn't alone. She hated being alone.

But it was _impossible _to feel alone with friends like hers, even after Bill lost Georgie, closely followed by Annie losing Amy later that month. While Annie's parents had drifted alone on their solitary islands of grief, she had her friends to turn to and Bill with whom to share her grief.

_That _had been months ago though, and Annie was doing much better now. It was the last day of school, after all, and in the face of impending summer, it was impossible _not _to be in a good mood. Summer meant staying up late and sleeping in. Summer meant sunshine and swimming and warmth. And best of all, summer meant escaping the mausoleum that her home had become in the months following Amy's death and escaping down into the Barrens where Amy's ghost was not constantly hanging overhead.

She had been staring at the clock hanging over Mrs. Harlowe's desk for the better part of an hour, watching as the hands ticked down the minutes, her foot tapping impatiently. Richie sat at the front of the class, absently drumming his pencil against his desk, while Bill sat in the desk behind him, doodling on the cover of his notebook. Eddie was in the desk beside Annie's doing his best to pay attention to what Mrs. Harlowe was saying but even he was getting distracted.

"_Stop it!" _he hissed at Annie under his breath. Mrs. Harlowe was saying something about summer work now but Annie's foot was _tap-tap-tapping _away, making it impossible for Eddie to focus.

"What?" She blinked, looking at him innocently with those big blue eyes of hers. "I'm not _doing _anything."

"You _are," _Eddie insisted. "It's distracting."

"Eddie?" He looked up with a start, expression guilty, when Mrs. Harlowe said his name, looking at him with a frown. "Is there something more interesting you'd like to share with the class?"

"No ma'am," he answered automatically, hearing Richie snicker from his desk.

Mrs. Harlowe looked at him for a moment longer, eyes narrowed, before turning to address the rest of the class once more. Eddie immediately turned in his seat to glare at Annie who shrugged, smiling apologetically. At least she had stopped the incessant foot tapping.

This was not at all unusual, Annie and Eddie were good at distracting each other during class and, given the fact that they usually ended up sitting together, it was something the two of them had grown used to.

The sound of the final bell ringing cut off whatever Mrs. Harlowe was saying about summer work and had the class leaping hurriedly to their feet, eager to get out of class.

"Sorry, Eddie," Annie offered, shouldering her pink backpack. The apology was genuine but it didn't matter one way or the other. Eddie never seemed to be able to stay annoyed at Annie for long.

"It's okay," Eddie told her with a sigh, sliding his own backpack onto his shoulder.

Bill and Richie worked their way back towards their two friends, fighting against the tide of other students until they finally reached them.

Bill was the tallest of their group of friends, with dark hair and bright blue eyes. He was cute, and might have been more popular if not for his stutter. It had been moderate before Georgie, but after his death it had gotten worse. Richie was shorter than Bill, with a head of curly black hair and thick-framed glasses that magnified his dark eyes. Eddie was shorter than either of them, but still taller than Annie, with brown hair that he usually combed neatly to the side and warm brown eyes.

Richie pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before tilting his head towards the classroom door. "Let's get out of here," he advised, starting towards the door, the others following behind.

Without looking back, Annie reached out to grab Eddie's hand with her own, not wanting to get separated by the crowd of students. This wasn't unusual behavior from his friend, she had always been very open with offering forth affection, but still, Eddie felt his cheeks heat up. Luckily neither Bill nor Richie saw, otherwise Eddie knew he would never hear the end of it.

It had been an exhaustingly long school year, and it was clear that everyone was pleased to finally be free. The halls were flooded with students all chattering and making their way to the exits. The group of four fell in with the stream of students and Annie drifted back to walk beside Eddie instead of pulling him by the hand.

As far as friends went, Eddie guessed he had gotten pretty lucky. Before he had made friends with Bill he had been picked on a lot, teased for being small and sickly. That hadn't changed, of course, Eddie was still bullied frequently, but making friends with Bill back in first grade had led Eddie to become friends with Richie and Stan as well. They were all bullied pretty relentlessly, but at least they had each other.

And then there was Annie, walking beside Eddie as if it was no big deal, as if she wouldn't have been better suited to running around with girls like Greta Bowie and Sally Mueller. He wasn't sure what he had done to deserve a friend like her, but whatever it was, Eddie was grateful for it. They were all his best friends, of course, but Annie was his best _best _friend. Even better was the fact that he knew that he was _her _best friend too. There was something comforting in that knowledge, knowing that it wasn't just one-sided.

"Are we still going down to the Barrens?" Annie asked eagerly. It was hardly a question worth asking though, the group went down there almost every day after school.

The Barrens were great because, for the most part, they were pretty much left alone down there, free to do whatever they wanted without fear that Henry Bowers or one of his asshole friends would show up to bother him. Most kids, Eddie knew, played ball behind the Tracker Brother's workshop after school or headed down to Bassey Park but there was nothing better than the feeling he got, running with his friends down in the Barrens, away from bullies and the anxious, watchful gaze of his mother.

"No," Bill shook his head. "S-Stan c-ca-can-"

"Stan can't," Richie cut him off, not giving Bill a chance to stutter through the sentence. "He has to _study._"

Richie never interrupted Bill out of meanness, and Eddie knew that Bill was oftentimes grateful for it because nobody hated Bill's stutter more than Bill himself. Before Georgie's disappearance that past October, Bill's stutter had been moderate, but since then it had gotten worse.

None of his friends minded, but that stutter often made Bill the butt of jokes orchestrated by some of the meaner spirited kids at school.

"Study," Annie wrinkled her nose, clearly disgusted as if the word was somehow offensive. "It's _summer_."

"It's for his _Bar Mitzvah_," Eddie reminded her.

None of the rest of their little group was Jewish and so they were not quite sure _what _his Bar Mitzvah would entail. They had, of course, all been invited.

"_Riiiight," _Annie blinked, pursing her lips slightly in thought. "How exactly does that work again?"

Annie had been the most supportive of Stan by far, not making nearly as many jokes at his expense as the others but she could frequently be quite absent-minded and often didn't remember the full explanation he had given her. Her heart was in the right place, though.

Eddie sighed, shaking his head with an exasperation he didn't actually feel before launching himself into the explanation. "Okay, so there's this church full of Jews, and Stan has to take this super Jew-y test."

"I knew that," Annie told him. "But like…. how does it work?"

"They slice the tip of his dick off," Eddie said matter-of-factly, watching with some amusement as her eyes stretched wide, first with surprise then with disgust.

"_What?!" _

"But then he'll have nothing left!" Richie interjected.

"_Richie!" _Annie admonished, though she still sounded slightly amused.

"Guys, wait up!"

Suddenly the man in question was pushing his way between Annie and Richie, slightly out of breath, obviously having chased them down the hall.

Stan was around the same height as Richie, with a head of curly hair. Today, like most other days, he was neatly dressed in cacky shorts and a well-ironed button-up.

"Hey Stan," Annie greeted him brightly, gracing him with a smile. "Were your ears burning?"

"What actually happens at a _Bar Mitzvah?_" Richie asked their friend. "Inquiring minds want to know," he tilted his head towards Annie who puffed her cheeks out in indignation.

"You don't know either!"

"Ed says you slice the tip of the d-d-dick off," Bill explained.

"Yeah," Richie nodded knowingly. "And then the Rabbi will pull your pants down and say to the crowd, _'Where's the meat?'_"

Stan sighed heavily, shaking his head, far too used to this sort of behavior by now. "At the _Bar Mitzvah _I read from the _Torah _and make a speech and suddenly I become a man."

"There's more funner ways to become a man," Richie said with a roguish grin. Annie rolled her eyes.

"More fun, you mean? I'm impressed you passed English class at all with grammar like that, Trashmouth."

"Oh gosh, _sorry Miss Jackson,_" Richie shot back sarcastically. "I'll be sure to hit the books as soon as I get home. Don't want to fail the big test."

"Beep beep Richie," Annie deadpanned, earning a laugh from the others.

The two of them often argued back and forth like that, Eddie suspected because Richie liked to tease Annie so much. It was never out of cruelty though and for the most part, Annie took it all in stride. When they were younger, it had been different, Annie had been unused to Richie's brand of teasing and had reacted indignantly to all of it.

Annie opened her mouth to say something else but froze, her eyes landing on a group of boys standing on the other side of the hall. _"Oh._"

Henry Bowers and his friends. Even worse, Patrick Hockstetter was with them. The four boys had already seen the group and Patrick had locked eyes with Annie who shrunk subconsciously against Eddie's side, looking like a scared rabbit.

All of them hated Henry Bowers and their group, but Annie was _terrified. _She had good reason to be too, Eddie knew because Henry and Patrick seemed to take some sort of sick pleasure into making the girl cry.

There had been a time, two summers ago, when they had been down in the Barrens, playing in the water of the Kenduskeag. It had been one of the rare occasions where Henry Bowers and his gang had ventured down.

It had been Richie who had riled them up, smarting off to them in a very unwise way, but Eddie had long ago learned that Richie had no control over the words that streamed out of his mouth and it had been Annie who paid the price, Annie who had gotten shoved down and Annie who hit her temple hard against a rock.

_That _had been particularly terrifying, the sound her head had made when it hit and even worse had been the pitiful noise she had made, like an injured rabbit. Bowers and his friends had simply laughed, turning away to leave, though Eddie had also suspected it was them turning tail and running too because they had made a _girl _bleed and every single one of their parents would think that that was somehow worse than if they had pushed one of the boys down.

Annie had been crying then, pathetic sobs wracking her body, and when Eddie saw how badly she was bleeding he had promptly thrown up, feeling thoroughly ashamed of himself afterward.

Head wounds bled more, Eddie knew, but there had been _so much blood_, running in a river down Annie's face, into her eye and matting her hair against her face.

None of them had known what to do for her that day, except for Bill who had stepped up and taken charge, beginning to direct Annie out of the Barrens, despite the fact that she was shaking from fear and in pain. They had managed to get her into town and had stopped in the nearest store to call her dad who had come roaring up the street in his pickup with clear panic written on his face.

Annie had needed stitches that day, and there was still the ghost of a scar along her hairline to serve as a reminder of what happened when you got on the bad side of Henry Bowers and his friends.

When her father had asked Annie what had happened, she had sworn up and down that she had only fallen and had begged the others to go along with it as well, scared of what Henry or one of the others would do if she snitched. Even worse was the fact that it was _Patrick Hockstetter _who pushed her, and Annie insisted that _he _was even worse than Henry.

Now, Annie gave the group of boys a wide berth, often going out of her way to avoid them which was particularly hard given that Annie's family owned a farm not far from where Henry and his father lived.

Annie never said anything about it, but Eddie knew that she was always nervous to ride her bike home, nervous to pass the Bowers' place because it was like tempting fate. _Here I am, Henry! Come and have a go! _

Deciding it was probably best to not linger in the hallway, Eddie nudged Annie, urging her forward at a quicker pace.

As they began to move, Patrick's gaze shifted to Richie, who tensed up slightly as the older boy licked his lips and offered Richie a wink.

"_Shit," _Richie breathed. "Think he'll sign my yearbook? '_Dear Richie, sorry for taking a hot, steamy dump in your backpack last month. Enjoy your summer!'_"

They turned to head down the stairs, losing sight of Henry and his friends, and finally, Annie could breathe again.

"Nah," she said. "They're too illiterate for that." '

* * *

Annie stepped out into the sunlight, taking a moment to revel in the warmth of the midday sun before following her friends down the front steps of the school. It had only been a half-day today, and the sun was shining brilliantly in a clear, blue sky.

All in all, it was the perfect doorway into summer.

Well, _okay _maybe not perfect. Perfect implied that kids were not going missing, implied that Georgie Denbrough had not disappeared, implied that Amy Jackson had not died.

In short, _perfect _implied that everything was fine in Derry and everything was definitely _not _fine.

Still, it was a beautiful day and with a whole summer of freedom to look forward to, it was easy to forget everything that had gone wrong over the last several months.

The others had gathered around one of the school's trash cans and were carelessly dumping the contents of their bags inside. As Annie approached she began to sort through her own with more care, dropping now useless folders and papers inside. The others watched her, Richie raising a brow as he shook his head.

"Just dump it all in," he told her impatiently.

"I don't want to throw _everything _away," she informed him matter-of-factly. Specifically, she did not want to throw away the layer of notes that had been passed between herself and her friends over that school year. They lined the bottom of her backpack like debris and when Annie got home she would carefully store them in an old shoebox beneath her bed.

Most of the notes had been passed between herself and Eddie, but there was a fair share from Richie and even a coveted few from Bill himself. _Those _she would likely re-read before carefully storing them away. There were even fewer from Stan who disliked passing notes in class, fearing that they would get caught and that he would get into trouble.

"This is the best feeling ever," Stan announced, sliding his backpack back onto his shoulders.

Richie snorted. "Yeah? Try tickling your pickle for the first time."

Annie wrinkled her nose, rolling her eyes and exchanging an exasperated look with the others.

"Sometimes you astound me with your eloquence, Trashmouth."

Richie blinked blankly at her.

"_El-o-quence,"_ she said, sounding it out. "If you tried picking up a book sometime, you might know what it means."

"What do you guys wanna do tomorrow?" Eddie asked.

"_Oh!" _Annie looked over at him eagerly. "We could go to the quarry and swim!"

Swimming was, by far, Annie's favorite thing to do in the summer and at every available opportunity, she was trying to convince the boys to go down to the quarry or to come over to her house where they could splash around in the swimming hole.

Annie had practically grown up in the water and her father was always joking that it was a wonder than Annie had feet instead of fins. Annie had _loved _Grand Isle, had loved the beach and the sound of the waves and the ocean breeze in her hair. Most of all, though, she loved the water.

That had not changed since moving to Derry, the only difference was she had to settle for pools and swimming holes and that she had to wait longer for the weather to warm up

"I've got to start my training," Richie piped up, making the other four turn to look at him in confusion.

"What training?"

"_Streetfighter_," Richie informed them, adjusting his glasses.

Eddie furrowed his brow, looking puzzled. "Is that how you want to spend your summer?" He asked. "Stuck in an arcade?"

"Better than inside your mother!" Richie shot back, raising a hand for Stan to high five. The other boy promptly shoved his hand down again.

"Guys, we have to g-go to the B-ba-barrens tomorrow," Bill reminded them, expression grave.

Annie frowned. She had briefly forgotten that they had promised Bill to go down to the Barrens to try and find Georgie.

If Annie were being honest, she thought Georgie was probably dead. She would never say this to Bill's face, of course, he would come to that realization in his own time. And until then, if it helped him to cope, she would help him to look for Georgie as he needed.

"Betty Ripsom's mom," Eddie tilted his head, making the others turn to see a woman standing with several police officers on the street in front of the school.

The woman had her hands clasped over her heart, almost like she was praying. She wore a hopeful expression on her face.

"Does she really expect to see her coming out of school?" Eddie asked, frowning.

"I don't know," Annie sighed.

Betty had been in their Social Studies class. They had never been close, but Betty was nice enough and was always eager to answer questions.

"As if Betty's been hiding in Home Ec for the last few weeks."

"Do you think they'll find her?" Stan asked them.

"Sure," Richie piped up. "In a ditch. All decomposed, covered in worms and maggots, smelling like Eddie's mom's underwear."

Eddie glowered at his friend, looking sickened. "Shut up," he snapped. "That's disgusting."

"She's not dead," Bill insisted. "She's m-m-missing."

"Sorry, Bill," Richie said immediately, tone much softer. "She's missing."

Annie wasn't so sure about that. Probably, all the missing kids were dead. Lord knows they had found enough bodies as of late. Chad Lowe, Cheryl Lamonica, Veronica Grogan, and Jimmy Cullum had already been found. Not only were they dead, but their bodies had also been savaged. Annie knew that there were a lot of adults who were afraid that there was some demented child-killer in Derry. There were others though, who believed none of the deaths or disappearances had anything to do with each other and _those _people, Annie decided, were especially stupid.

She wouldn't say any of this out loud though, not in present company, when Bill was so determined to believe that the missing could still be found. It was kind of sad really.

Annie turned to face the others again, opening her mouth to express some kind of condolence for poor Betty Ripsom's mother, when the sight of Patrick Hockstetter made her freeze, mouth agape, and eyes widening. Where Patrick was, his friends were not far behind and sure enough, here came Henry and the others, strolling up, intent on causing trouble.

She could run and even as the impulse struck her, Annie felt her limbs tensing, readying herself to make a mad dash somewhere, _anywhere, _as long as it was away from the bullies. But what kind of friend would that make her if she left them behind?

_They can run too, _she thought and frowned. They could, but they wouldn't and she didn't _want _to run either, hated the way her blood ran cold just at the sight of Henry Bowers and his friends.

Without thinking she reached up, brushing her fingers against her hairline where she knew her scar was. They had caused it, and they had laughed, maybe not realizing how bad the gash on her head had been, probably not caring. If Annie had felt compelled she could have told her dad who would have made a big deal out of it, no doubt, would have torn down the road in his old pickup to the Bowers' place to raise nine kinds of hell.

But she hadn't. Annie had kept her mouth shut, partially because she feared how Henry would react if she did snitch but mostly because _Amy _was the kid who caused her parents to worry. _Amy _was the one who had always been sick, who was always the one going in and out of doctors' offices and hospitals. _Amy _was the one who occupied all of her parents' worries back then, and Annie wouldn't have felt right if they had made a bigger fuss over her.

Easier to lie and let things die down quietly. She had suspected though, that her dad hadn't believed her, but he hadn't pressed the matter and Annie had been grateful.

These days it still seemed like there wasn't any worry left for Annie, even with a potential child killer on the loose, but that was because all of her parents' emotions were spent up on grief.

They hardly seemed to notice Annie anymore.

"Nice frisbee, flamer," Patrick reached up, snatching the _kippah _off of Stan's head and slinging it through the window of a passing school bus.

Stan watched in dismay but didn't dare try to stand up to Patrick who was known for being particularly vicious.

Instinctively, Annie shifted closer to Eddie, trying to make herself appear smaller, less noticeable. Between them, she knew that neither she nor Eddie could do much against Henry or his friends but she at least felt more comfortable standing with her best friend.

Belch Huggins stepped up beside them, burping loudly into Eddie's ear. Eddie gagged audibly, shrinking away from Belch who laughed mirthfully.

Henry stood by, overseeing the actions of his squad of goons, ever the dutiful bully.

"Fuckin' losers," he scoffed, shoving Richie before turning away, the others following behind.

"You s-s-suck, Bowers!" Bill snapped, stepping after him, making Henry pause and turn back to face them.

Annie grimaced, taking a step back, not wanting to get caught up in _that. _

"_Shut up, Bill!" _Eddie hissed.

Henry took a slow step towards Bill, brows raised expectantly. "Did you s-s-say something, B-b-b-Billy?" He taunted. "You got a free ride this year 'cause of your little brother. Ride's over, Denbrough." He took another threatening step towards him but froze, looking past the group. Annie glanced over her shoulder to see that one of the police officers had taken noticed and was watching Henry carefully.

Annie allowed herself a breath of relief. Even Henry was not so bold as to start anything in front of a police officer.

"This summer is gonna be a hurt train. For you and your pussy friends," Henry informed Bill, before licking his hand and pressing it against the side of Bill's face.

Annie grimaced, watching as the boys turned and walked away towards Belch Huggins' car, leaving them behind.

"I hate them!" She announced vehemently. Annie had never hated anyone before in her life, but she was certain, in that moment, that she hated Henry Bowers and his friends.

"I wish he'd go missing," Stan said quietly.

"He's probably the one doing it," Eddie was still glowering in the direction they had gone, watching as the group took off in the car.

Annie wasn't so sure about that, didn't think that Henry was smart enough to kill somebody without being caught, though she certainly believed he was _capable _of killing a person. It was one of the reasons he scared her so badly.

"We should go," Annie suggested. "Before he decides he didn't get his point across well enough."

She didn't really think he would dare come back to cause trouble, but if the police officers ended up leaving and he saw them still hanging around…

She turned, leading the way over to the rack where all of their bikes were chained up. Her own bike stood out starkly against the others, bright pink complete with a yellow oogah horn and a wicker basket with plastic daisies attached.

She climbed on, before turning to look back at Eddie. "You want to come over?" She offered. "We can swim."

He considered this offer for a moment before reluctantly shaking his head. "Better not," he told her. "My mom is expecting me home."

Annie frowned but didn't feel particularly surprised. Mrs. Kaspbrak was remarkably overprotective of Eddie and, to make matters worse, she _hated _Annie.

She turned to look at Bill and Richie, raising her brows expectantly. "What about you guys?" She asked, but they both shook their heads.

"I told my mom I'd clean out the attic," Richie said glumly.

With a sigh Annie nodded, resigning herself to the fact that she would have to go home alone. It wouldn't be so bad, she figured. Just go home and change and then go swim. The house _might _be as cold as the Arctic Circle, but outside was just as warm and pleasant as she could ask for.

Her mom wouldn't even _care. _

The boys climbed onto their own bikes and together they all began pedaling, each of them splitting off at different intervals to head towards their own homes until finally, it was just Annie, alone, heading towards a house that had progressively gotten colder and colder over the last eight months.


	3. Something In The Water

**Something In The Water**

Paul Jackson had worked outside for most of his adult life. There had been a point, once he had started working when he had made his money working on the boats down in Grand Isle. Then, he had gotten the opportunity to work at one of the ranches in a town outside of Grand Isle and the rest had been history. So Paul had needed to drive nearly an hour to and from work every day. It was good work, and he had made an honest living, had been perfectly capable of caring for his wife and daughters.

Paul liked working with his hands, there was something comforting about it, and most of the work he did was methodical, easy to get lost in. But in Louisiana, Paul had worked for somebody else, had always had a boss to answer to and somebody to direct his actions. Since moving to Derry, Paul had worked only for himself.

It was freeing in a way, and far more rewarding to throw himself into _his _work on _his _own farm.

He was ashamed to admit it, but when they had moved up from Louisiana to Derry, he had almost been excited to have his own land, _at last, _his own farm. He dared not mention this to Shirl who believed that the _only _reason they should have been looking forward to moving to Derry was because of the better standard of care that Amy would receive at Derry Home Hospital.

Shirl had a notorious one-track mind, and once she had latched on to the notion of caring for Amy and being there for Amy and loving Amy, there had been little else that could distract her. That included their oldest daughter who, Paul had to admit, had often fallen to the wayside when it came to taking care of Amy.

And now? These days, Annie was rarely at home when she didn't need to be, and Paul couldn't say that he blamed her. Shirl spent most of her time in bed these days and Paul spent most of his time working and Annie was very often left on her own. Paul couldn't imagine that that was very easy on her.

He was surprised then when he heard the booming sound of Ghost's bark as the dog took off from the spot where he had been laying on the front porch, flying down the road to great Annie. Paul had been peering under the front hood of his old Chevy and looked up with a start, surprised to see his daughter coming home so early.

She laughed lightly, reaching out to scratch Ghost behind his ear as she dismounted her bike, leaning it against the side of the house.

_It was the last day of school, _Paul remembered which explained why she was here so early but even still, he expected her to be running around with her friends. Paul had never said it out loud but he was thankful for the group of friends Annie had made, glad she had people she could be so close to. He didn't even really care that every single one of them was a boy.

"Hey!" He called, making Annie whirl around to face him. Paul grinned in amusement. It seemed Anne had not even realized he was there. "You're here early."

"The others were busy," Annie explained, fending off the excited licks that Ghost was currently trying to deliver to her face. "I thought I'd come home and go swimming."

Annie had always loved swimming ever since she was a little girl. She had practically grown up with the water and Paul could remember the way he used to lift her up onto his shoulders and plow into the waves, listening to Annie's delighted giggles.

"Sure," Paul told her. "Just make sure to come back up to the house in time to get in a bath before supper."

Annie offered him a small smile, carefully resigned, and nodded before turning to head up onto the porch and into the house, Ghost on her heels.

Paul heaved a sigh, watching her go. That was a more recent development, happening over the last several months since Amy had died. Annie had never been closed off from Paul and Shirl _before _Amy's death. Paul supposed that could have just been part of her getting older, but he doubted it.

The truth was, Annie didn't trust Paul and Shirl to worry about her anymore, didn't trust them to care about her and to fully commit to the role of parents. She hadn't said that to them, of course, and Paul didn't need her to. It had been written all over her face.

* * *

The home that Annie and her family had lived in since moving to Derry had originally seemed quaint and homey. The little yellow house on Whitcham road with the white shutters had seemed like something out of a movie, warm and inviting.

These days, walking inside was more like walking into Antarctica. Annie thought that _penguins _probably lived in warmer climates than her own home.

Walking inside, the house was dark and Annie knew immediately that her mother was laying down in her bedroom. The smell of something cooking drifted down the hall from the kitchen and Annie knew immediately that dinner was coming from the crockpot tonight. They had eaten a lot of crockpot meals as of late.

Gently closing the screen door behind her so that she wouldn't wake her mother, Annie started upstairs towards her bedroom, Ghost at her side.

Passing the first door on the right, Amy's room, Annie headed into her own and slid off her backpack, taking a moment to relax and breathe. The rest of the house may have been cold but her bedroom at least was comfortable.

With her daisy wallpaper and white furniture, there was just something… _relaxing _about the space.

Settling down on the floor by her bed, Annie reached under it and pulled out the shoebox full of notes between herself and her friends. Then, one by one, Annie began to place the notes from that year inside, pausing sometimes to read through them with a smile, her heart fluttering each time she read one from Bill.

She had not had a crush on him originally, back when they had first met. But after what happened two years ago, when he had gently guided her out of the Barrens when she had hit her head on that rock, her heart fluttered every time she saw them.

He was a hero, he was _her _hero, and Bill Denbrough had suddenly become _Bill. _Not a single person in the whole world knew about her crush, except for Eddie, and he had promised not to tell.

Satisfied, Annie stood up again and changed into her new swimsuit, the one she had bought the weekend before with her allowance money. She had been delighted with it, loving the soft pink and white lines and the low back. It felt like the kind of swimsuit that a teenager would wear, unlike the one from the year before which had felt distinctly childish.

She had hoped to wear her new swimsuit to swim down at the quarry tomorrow, but at least she would get to spend her afternoon today swimming. With that happy thought in mind, Annie slipped on her sandals before heading out of the house, stopping momentarily to grab a towel. It occurred to her briefly that she could head next door to ask her friend Mike if he wanted to come and swim, but she didn't even know if he was home yet and besides that, he probably had chores to do. Some other time, she decided, and with that, she was out the backdoor, heading towards the backfield where the swimming hole was.

* * *

With a content sigh, Annie floated leisurely on her back, enjoying the feeling of the sun shining on her face. The swimming hole was nice, peaceful. Located within a small copse of trees, cattails lined the shoreline and, shortly after moving her father had tied a rope to a sturdy limb, making it possible to take a swinging leap into the water.

Ghost lounged on the shoreline, dozing in the afternoon sun but Annie knew, if he felt so inclined, he might end up bounding into the water to play.

She had gotten Ghost as a gift two Christmases ago and technically he was meant to have been both Annie _and _Amy's dog. Annie had been _so _sure that, like her parents, Ghost would prefer Amy. It had been hard to resent Amy for that, or maybe Annie felt like she wasn't _allowed _to resent Amy but back then she couldn't stand the idea that Mama and Daddy _and _the damned dog might all just… prefer Amy. Poor, sick Amy who deserved _all _the sympathy and worry and love.

Ghost had quickly made his preference obvious, staying glued to Annie's side whenever she was home which had upset Amy but Annie had felt _victorious. _Amy could have their parents, but Ghost was Annie's.

Annie didn't like thinking about that, because it made something hard and spiteful settle into her chest. She had _loved _Amy, loved Amy even now that she was dead and gone and would give just about anything to have her little sister back, alive and well and no longer sick.

The only issue with that was that Annie was sure that her parents would do anything to have Amy back as well, even if the thing they had to give up was Annie herself.

That was a dangerous train of thought, but Annie had always suspected it in her heart of hearts. It was like this: if Annie and Amy were drowning, her parents would have saved them both, of course they would, but they would always, _always _have saved Amy first. So Annie had just had to learn to swim on her own.

These days, if Annie were drowning, she was not entirely convinced that her parents would even bother jumping in, was not convinced that they would even _notice. _Sometimes, Annie thought that neither of her parents could even swim on their own anymore.

A low growl reached her ears suddenly and, with a small frown, Annie opened her eyes to peer over at Ghost who was standing now, eyes set beyond Annie. His ears were flattened back and the fur along his shoulders was bristling, his lips curled back away from his teeth in a wicked snarl.

"Ghost?"

Annie straightened up, treading water now as she watched her dog, who had never acted this way as long as they had had him.

A chill ran up Annie's spine, as if the water had suddenly gotten ten degrees colder, and she turned slowly to peer over her shoulder, scanning the opposite bank, looking for any creature that could have Ghost acting this way. A squirrel maybe? Annie couldn't see anything though and she could think of nothing else that would have him acting like this.

The sight of the water rippling a few yards away had Annie tensing, brow furrowing. A fish? No, there were no fish in the swimming hole, otherwise, she wouldn't _swim _in it. A frog maybe?

A cold sense of fear clenched around Annie's heart and, as she watched, a gray fin slowly rose to the surface, cutting through the water and heading right towards Annie.

_Christ! _Annie thought. _It's that damn shark! _

She remembered, inexplicably, watching _Jaws _two weeks prior with the others. They had been at Richie's house and, despite how Annie had protested against it, she had been outvoted and she had had little choice but to settle back on the couch and to hide her face in Eddie's shoulder at all the scary parts. She had spent a good portion of that movie hiding her face. Annie _hated _sharks, had grown up in Louisiana hearing horror stories about them from classmates about how so-and-so knew somebody who had gotten an arm or a leg bitten off. Even worse had been the stories about people who had gotten _eaten by sharks.  
_

After she and her friends had watched the movie (which Richie had loved, of course) Annie had had nightmares for a week. She had told nobody except Eddie who, to his credit, had not laughed.

Distantly, some part of Annie's brain knew that she was being ridiculous, there was no way there was a _shark _in the goddamn pond and yet the proof was _there, _a gray dorsal fin headed towards her.

There was no denying the sudden sinister feeling in the air and suddenly Annie felt very small. Hunted. She was being _hunted. _

Ghost began to bark and that was all Annie needed to jerk herself out of her thoughts and to get _moving. _

She kicked powerfully, moving through the water with ease. Swimming was something Annie knew how to do, and she could do it _well. _But better than a _shark? _She supposed she didn't have to be a better swimmer really, she just had to move _faster, _fast enough to get out of the water before the shark's teeth closed around her leg.

Even now she could imagine how it might feel, like some sort of phantom pain.

What would her parents think if she died like this? Killed in the swimming hole by a _shark _of all things. The concept was ridiculous. This was not the ocean and there could be no shark. But clearly there _was _and as Annie swam she could feel the water shift around her. It was _right there, _right behind her, and her heart was _roaring _in her ears.

And then she reached the bank, hurrying out of the water and turning back in time to see the shark's jaws close around _nothing, _a second too late. She was close enough to see its _teeth, _close enough to count _every single wicked sharp one. _

With a pathetic whimper, Annie fell back onto her rear and began to cry. Even as she did, her mind told her that it _wasn't real, _that it couldn't be real.

But the evidence was _right there. _It had nearly gotten her, had been so close that she could see the evil gleam in its black, black eyes.

As she watched, the shark turned away, swimming out into the center of the water and beginning to go in circles.

_Head back in the water, Annie, _a voice in her head seemed to say. _Say hello. Take a dive. You'll never get out again but hey… at least you'll float! And who knows, maybe if you're lucky you'll get to see Amy. Don't you want to see Amy again? _

The thought scared her so badly that Annie scrambled to her feet, snatching her towel up from where it was neatly folded on the ground, before turning and _running. _

Ghost took off behind her, apparently not any more interested in hanging around the water's edge than Annie was. And as she ran, Annie began to scream.

"_MAMA! DADDY!" _

As she approached the house, her father came around the side, confusion written across his face.

When he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks and the terror written on her face that confusion shifted to a look of concern and he hurried towards her, gripping her shoulders in his hands to hold her still.

"Annie?" He crouched down so that they were eye level and that was enough to bring Annie back to herself, to have her trying to take control of her heaving breaths.

She opened her mouth to say something, just as the sound of the back door swinging open had her looking up in surprise to find her mother standing there.

"What the hell is going on?" She snapped, placing her hands on her hips and looking stern. She didn't look nearly as concerned as her husband to find Annie in such a state.

"I-I… th-there… " Annie struggled to find her words, thinking for a moment that she sounded just like Bill.

"_Annie!"_

"There was a shark down in the water!" She rushed out, looking between the two of them desperately, imploring them to believe her.

Her father furrowed his brow in confusion but her mother scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Is that right?" She asked sarcastically.

Annie blinked, mouth dropping open. "There was!" She insisted. "It tried to get me!"

"Annie, stop lying! It's not funny!"

Tears began to brim in the corner of Annie's eyes again at the sheer unfairness of it all, and she looked back at her father imploringly, hoping he would believe her, would believe that _something _really had happened. She could tell immediately that he didn't.

Annie took a step back, breaking her father's grip on her shoulders, gaze shifting between her mother and father. They didn't believe her. A sob choked up in Annie's throat and she reached out, brushing her fingers against Ghost's head. Her parents didn't believe her and, for the first time ever, they felt like complete strangers to her.

* * *

Annie sat in her bed that night, knees tucked beneath her chin, and a mug of hot cocoa gripped in her hands. She listened despondently as her parents argued downstairs. It had been a long time since they had cared enough to argue.

Before bed, her father had brought her the mug of hot chocolate and Annie had immediately recognized it for what it was, a peace offering. He knew she couldn't sleep without her customary mug of hot cocoa, but it had been a long time since he had bothered to remember.

She hated that they were arguing, hated the tumultuous rise of her mother's voice but there was also a sense of satisfaction curling up in her chest. They were arguing about _her_, and somehow them being exasperated or pissed off at her was better than indifference.

Still, it would have been better if they had just believed her.

"_She's doing it for attention!" _Her mother yelled, the sound echoing up the stairs.

"_Then maybe we should pay her some attention!" _

Annie winced, shaking her head. She would never, ever do something like that for attention. She wasn't that kind of person. Surely her parents had to know that.

_They don't know what kind of person I am, anymore, _she thought bitterly, bringing the mug up to her lips and taking a drink. Reaching out, she began to scratch Ghost behind the ears, taking some comfort in his presence. At least he was on her side.

"_She's being selfish! We're still grieving, Paul. She knows that!" _

"_We still have a living daughter, Shirl! And she still needs us!" _

_No, _Annie thought, shaking her head stubbornly. _I don't need you. I don't need anyone. _

But even as she thought it, she knew it wasn't true. _I need Ghost, _she thought, feeling a rush of affection for the dog. _And I need Eddie. _But that was _it_, damnit! That was all. Just those two because they were the only ones she felt with absolute confidence would not let her down in the end.

_Just Ghost and Eddie, _she thought, finishing off her hot chocolate and placing the mug on her nightstand before settling back against her pillow. Ghost shifted closer, taking up most of the bed for himself now, and Annie smiled into the darkness.

Tomorrow she would spend all day with her friends, away from her parents and their doubts and disdain. Tomorrow would be better, she decided. And one thing was for certain, she would _not _be going back near the water.

_The shark, don't think about the shark! _She closed her eyes against the darkness, trying to determinedly think about anything else, but in the end, they drifted back to what had happened earlier that day.

_You'll float, _that voice had said and it had certainly sounded pleasant in her head, but there was something else, something nefarious. _I don't want to float,_ Annie thought miserably. _Not ever._

* * *

**Author's Note: And that's chapter two posted! Not much to say here, other than to give a big thank you to everyone who has followed and favorited this story and an even bigger thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I really love hearing what you guys think!**


	4. The Barrens

**The Barrens**

Maybe it was silly, but Eddie prided himself on the fact that he knew Annabel Jackson better than anybody in the whole world. Better than her parents and Richie and Stan and even _Bill. _Eddie knew this because Annie had told him so herself on one particular afternoon when they had been down in the Barrens by themselves.

Eddie hadn't told her then, but Annie knew him best out of everyone too.

It was because he knew her so well that Eddie knew immediately when he set eyes on her that morning that something was wrong. Her usual happy grin of greeting was forced and there was something stormy lurking behind her blue eyes.

She parked her bike by the curb in front of his house, giving Richie and Bill a chance to say hello to Ghost, who had come loping up the street at her side. Eddie gave her a look, brow furrowed in confusion but Annie only shook her head mouthing _'later'_.

Then her gaze flickered briefly to Richie and Bill and Eddie knew she didn't want to say anything in front of them. She only wanted to talk about whatever was bothering her with _him. _

She hadn't complimented him exactly but it still felt like a form of praise and Eddie felt like he grew about three feet from it.

Annie had been uncharacteristically quiet all day, not even saying hello to Stan when he joined them, nor saying a single word on the trek down into the Barrens. Something had obviously happened, and Eddie couldn't help but wonder what it was.

Stan was the only one of the others who had seemed to notice and he kept shooting Annie quizzical looks, which she ignored, before looking at Eddie in confusion. Eddie could only shrug in response.

It wasn't like Annie to be like this. She was usually talkative and optimistic but today it seemed as if a dark cloud had settled over her. Perhaps something had happened with her parents? Or, even worse, perhaps she had had a run-in with Henry Bowers on her ride to meet them this morning?

Either way, she kept her grip firm on Ghost's collar, keeping the dog from bounding into the brush to explore like he usually would. _This, _in particular, was strange, and the only thing Eddie could figure was that she wanted to keep her dog close, just in case.

_Just in case of what? _

They reached the water of the Kenduskeag and began to walk along its edge, following Bill as usual who seemed to have some idea where he was going.

"We're gonna c-ch-check the s-sewers," he told them matter-of-factly.

Eddie and Stan exchanged looks of dismay. The _sewers? No thanks, sorry Big Bill. We'll catch you tomorrow. _

Neither of them said that, of course, and neither of them would. Eddie thought, probably, that they would all be willing to follow Bill Denbrough into hell if he asked them.

Eddie couldn't even find it within himself to resent Bill for having earned Annie's affections in a way that Eddie himself had not. It wasn't as if Bill had asked for it, in fact, the boy remained oblivious. And _if _Bill ever did notice and decided it was something he wanted to pursue… well, Eddie wouldn't resent him then either because it would make Annie very happy and that's was the most important part.

Still, Eddie couldn't help but think about how things would be if Annie _did _like him. Maybe one day, Eddie would work up the courage to lean forward and press a kiss against the curve of her cheek and she would turn to look at him with surprise before offering him that secret smile of hers that she always seemed to reserve exclusively for him.

Things would never work out like that, of course. First of all, that required a kind of bravery that Eddie simply didn't believe himself to be capable of. Secondly, he didn't think that Annie would _ever _look at him that way. Which was okay, because he was still her best friend and that was an honor that seemed nearly unparalleled. Still, it was nice to imagine.

"That's poison ivy," Stan announced as they approached a large drainage pipe. "That's poison ivy. And that's poison ivy."

Eddie looked around in alarm. "Where?" He asked. "Where's the poison ivy?"

All of the plants looked the same to him, and Eddie could just imagine the way his Ma would react if he showed up with a rash because he had accidentally stumbled into poison ivy.

Richie turned to look at them, shaking his head in exasperation, before following Bill into the pipe.

"It's not poison ivy," Annie assured Stan and Eddie. "It's virginia creeper."

Neither Stan nor Eddie looked entirely convinced, and just thinking about the plant was enough to have him scratching his arms.

"Not every fucking plant is poison ivy, Stanley," Richie called back, his voice echoing around in the pipe, offering it a distinctly creepy sound.

Eddie settled himself onto one of the rocks outside of the pipe, with Annie stepping up to join him, Ghost taking up the last remaining space on the rock, apparently not anymore interested in getting into the nasty smelling water than Annie or Eddie were.

"Okay well I'm starting to get itchy now and I'm pretty sure this is not good for me!" Eddie announced.

Bill didn't even glance back but Richie paused, turning to smirk at him. "Do you use the same bathroom as your mother?"

Eddie blinked, surprised by the question. "Sometimes, yeah."

"Then you probably have crabs," Richie told him with a shrug, ignoring the scowl Eddie sent him.

"That's so _not _funny!" Eddie snapped.

Richie laughed, apparently pleased with that reaction, before motioning the three of them to follow. "Aren't you guys coming?"

From beside him, Eddie heard Annie's snort of contempt, one that clearly said there was no way they were getting her to go into that sewer tunnel. Eddie was inclined to agree.

"Nu-uh," he shook his head, gesturing to the water at their feet. "That's gray water."

Richie furrowed his brow. "What the hell is gray water?"

Eddie sighed helplessly. "It's basically piss and shit," he explained. "So I'm just telling you… You guys are basically splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee."

Bill didn't look like he cared much but Richie gave him that usual shit-eating grin, reaching down to grab a long stick from the water and using it to catch a piece of cloth that had been floating at his feet. He leaned forward, giving it a cursory sniff, an action that had Eddie, Annie, and Stan gagging in disgust.

"Gross, Richie," Annie muttered.

"_Doesn't smell like _caca_ to me _señor_" _Richie called, using one of his stupid voice impressions.

Eddie scoffed. "Okay, I can smell that from _here._"

"It's probably just your breath wafting back into your face!"

"Or maybe it's _you, _Richie!" Annie said suddenly, none of her usual good-natured teasing in her tone. "When was the last time you took a bath? Last year?"

Richie frowned, blinking owlishly at her, clearly not sure how to respond. For the first time ever, he seemed at a loss for words. And he _still _hadn't put down that damn stick.

"Haven't you ever heard of a staph infection?" Eddie asked him impatiently.

"_Oh, I'll show you a staff infection!" _Richie moved the stick down, holding it between his legs before using it to vault the sopping wet piece of fabric at them. It was stopped from hitting Eddie in the face by tendrils of vines hanging down low around the mouth of the pipe. Still, it was enough to have Eddie yelping and stumbling back and it was only Annie's grip on his shoulder that kept him from toppling back into the water. He offered her a grateful smile before turning to glare at Richie again.

He was _always _doing this, it seemed, always trying to get under Eddie's skin and there were times when it drove him absolutely _bugshit! _

"_Guys!" _Bill called, trying to get their attention. They all looked up with a start to find him holding a shoe in his hand.

"Shit," Stan breathed. "Don't tell me that's… "

"No," Bill shook his head and they all breathed sighs of relief. "Georgie wore galoshes."

"Who's sneaker is it?" Eddie found himself asking.

Bill turned the show over, obviously reading the name written inside. "It's Betty Ripsom's."

A jolt went through Eddie and he shook his head. He didn't like this, didn't like this _at all_, and suddenly he felt very much like they shouldn't be down there, investigating around this nasty old pipe.

"_Oh shit!" _He cursed. _"Shit! Oh God! Oh fuck! _I don't like this!"

A quiet settled over the group, one that was finally broken by Richie. "How do you think Betty feels?" He asked. "Splashing around these tunnels with only one freaking shoe!"

A low growl from Ghost had Annie tensing, turning to face the dog who had set his gaze into the tunnel. His head was lowered and the fur around his shoulders was bristling dangerously. Eddie shot Annie a confused look. He had never heard Ghost growl like that before.

Annie gaped at the dog before turning to look into the tunnel, blue eyes wide as saucers.

_She's scared,_ Eddie realized. He had never seen Annie look like this before. He'd seen her scared before when faced with Henry and his friends, but that was nothing compared to this.

Reaching out she gripped Eddie's hand in her own and tugged on it insistently. "I want to go," she told him. "I want to go _right now._"

A chill ran up Eddie's spine. _Something was wrong. _

Stan had turned to look at the two of them, his brow furrowed, and Eddie could tell from the expression on his face that he was about two seconds away from agreeing to leave as well.

"Yeah," Eddie told her consolingly. "Yeah, okay. We'll go."

Ghost was still growling, eyes set on the darkness of the tunnel looking ready to attack. It was kind of scary. Was that what had Annie spooked?

Eddie had just turned so that they could move away from the mouth of the pipe when Bill spoke up again, making them freeze.

"If I were Betty Ripsom," he began solemnly. "I would want us to find her. Georgie too… "

Annie's grip on Eddie's hand tightened and she released a shuddery breath, sounding suddenly like she might begin crying.

"_Billy, please… _"

She sounded dangerously close to agreeing to stay, to agreeing to head into that tunnel, and Eddie knew that if Bill asked her too she would, just as surely as he knew he had never seen her so terrified.

"What if I don't want to find them?" Eddie asked suddenly, drawing their attention back to him. If he had to be the bad guy that was just fine with him. Anything to get them out of there. "I mean no offense Bill, but I don't want to end up like… " he paused, thinking better of his words. "I don't want to end up missing either."

Bill stared at Eddie hard, frowning, and Eddie felt himself shrink back under that look. Still, he held his ground.

"He has a point," Stan said, drawing Bill's attention to him.

"You too?" Bill asked, sounding disappointed.

Stan sighed heavily. "It's summer!" He pointed out. "We're supposed to be having fun! This is scary and _disgusting!_"

As if in agreement, Ghost gave another loud, booming bark.

Annie tugged on Eddie's hand again, urging him to leave, before shooting Richie and Bill an apologetic look. "I have a bad feeling guys," she said. "We shouldn't be down here."

Bill opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the sound of splashing water had Eddie, Annie, and Stan whipping around, Annie letting out a cry of surprise.

A boy about their age had come stumbling down the Kenduskeag and had fallen to his knees right there behind them. He looked about like he had been put through a blender, if Eddie were being honest, with blood and dirt and sweat staining his clothes and skin.

"Holy shit, what happened to you?" Richie asked as he and Bill exited the tunnel.

The kid, who's name Eddie thought was Ben, seemed to shrink under all of their gazes, looking from each of them with wide eyes.

Annie looked him over, frowning, before releasing Eddie's hand and hopping over to the stone nearest Ben, crouching down next to him.

Eddie didn't like Annie getting so close to this kid, not when he was bleeding like that. What if he had some kind of sickness? What if he gave it to Annie? Still, she didn't make any move to touch him and Ben did not move closer.

"You're hurt, huh?" She asked gently. "You want us to help you back to town?"

He looked up at her, seeming to relax at the small smile she gave him, before nodding gratefully. "Please."

She stood up, turning to face the others. "We have to go," she told them, sounding relieved.

She had an excuse now, no more arguments. Without looking back at the others, Eddie hooked his fingers around Ghost's collar and followed after Annie as she started back the way they had come

* * *

With Ben sitting precariously on the back of Silver, the group had made their way carefully into town, and the further away the got, the more Annie's racing heart had calmed.

Her sleep the night before had been burdened with nightmares and when she had woken that morning her pillow had been damp, either with tears or sweat, Annie wasn't sure. Either way, she had been enormously grateful to find Ghost still laying dutifully in her bed like some kind of guard. If he hadn't been with her the day before, Annie had no doubt in her mind that the shark would have gripped her between its teeth and pulled her under. He had _saved _her and that was what had led Annie to bring him with her today. The part of her that was still piss-your-pants-scared was more comfortable with Ghost at her side.

Besides, _he _didn't look at her like she was crazy for seeing a shark in the water. _He _had clearly seen the exact same thing she had.

She knew that Eddie had realized that something was wrong but was unsure what to tell him and, if she were being honest, she didn't think she would be able to stand it if _he _looked at her like she was insane. Out of everybody, she needed Eddie to believe her most.

When Ghost had started growling at that tunnel again today, it was like ice water had trickled down her spine and terror had gripped her heart, just like it had the day before. Was something there in the sawyers? Just out of sight but watching them? Another shark? That didn't make a lick of sense but it didn't make any sense for Annie to have seen one the day before either.

So then the only thing she could figure was that it had been something _else. _Some monster in disguise, but that way of thinking seemed childish and made even less sense than seeing a shark.

_Don't think about it, _Annie thought determinedly, but that had done her no good the night before so what made her think it would do any good now.

_You've gone insane is what. Seeing sharks and thinking every time your dog barks that means there's a monster around. Sounds insane to me. If you're not careful your parents with cart you off to Juniper Hill._

"I think it's great that we're helping the new kid but we also need to think about our own safety," Eddie was saying, likely trying to appeal to any of their good senses. "I mean there's an AIDS epidemic happening right now, as we speak. I mean my mom's friend in New York City got it just by touching a dirty pole in a subway and she got AIDS blood into her system through a hangnail, a _hangnail_. And they can amputate legs and arms. But how do you amputate a _waist?_"

Annie couldn't help but look at her friend in exasperated affection. Of all the things to be worried about. From up ahead, Ben kept shooting uneasy glances back at Eddie and, in retrospect, Eddie likely wasn't helping to ease his mind.

They turned to head into an alley, down the street from the Pharmacy, where they could park their bikes and get a better look at Ben's stomach wound.

"You know there are alleys full of AIDS-infected needles, right?" Eddie asked immediately, sounding concerned. "You know that, right?"

"Eddie, it'll be fine," Annie assured him, parking her bike and hopping off.

He looked at her for a moment, not seeming entirely convinced, but leaned his bike up against the wall as well.

Clearly too tired to stand, Ben leaned up against the brick wall before sliding into a sitting position. Ghost immediately headed over and began to sniff him curiously. Tentatively, Ben offered his hand for Ghost to smell before beginning to pet the dog.

"Richie, wait here," Bill instructed, already hurrying down the alleyway. "Come on!"

The others fell in behind, with Annie hesitating for a moment. "Watch Ghost, okay?" And with that she rushed after them, falling into step beside Eddie again as they entered the pharmacy, heading to the medical aisle.

Bill and Stan began to check their pockets for money, pulling out a measly few dollars while Annie and Eddie began to inspect the various items for sale. Eddie began to grab stuff at random, piling it up in his arms, while Annie was more careful, grabbing a bottle of antiseptic and some gauze tape. After a moment of consideration, she grabbed a bottle of pain killers as well, showing it to Eddie who nodded in approval.

When the two of them turned to face their friends, Stan held up the few dollars sheepishly.

"Can we afford all that?" Bill asked, looking at the small mountain of medical products in Eddie's arms. "This is all we've got."

"_Are you kidding?" _

Eddie looked between the money and the supplies with no small amount of frustration, obviously finding all of it necessary to treat Ben's wounds. Annie wasn't so sure about that, but Eddie knew more about medical stuff than she did, so who was she to question him?

"Wait," Bill looked at Eddie as if he had had a _eureka _moment. "You have an account here, don't you?"

Eddie scoffed. "If my mom finds out I bought all this stuff, I'll spend the whole rest of the week in the emergency room!"

Annie bit her lip, turning to look over her shoulder at Mister Keane who was behind the pharmacy counter, not paying them much mind. "Maybe we should just tell him the truth and he'll let us _have _the stuff."

She turned back to find all three boys looking at her with expressions of doubt.

"_What?" _She defended. "He _might._"

"Or he might tell us to get the hell out of here," Eddie told her.

That was probably the more likely of the two, honestly. Mister Keane was not exactly known for his generosity.

Annie opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could, somebody came around the corner of the aisle, catching all four of them by surprise. They froze, looking up at the girl with identical expressions of shock.

_Beverly Marsh, _Annie realized. She had never spoken much to the girl but she had a pretty bad reputation and a large portion of the graffiti in the school restrooms was dedicated to who Bev Marsh had allegedly blown or slept with. Annie had learned long ago to take those rumors with a grain of salt and didn't set much stock in what girls like Greta or Sally said.

Still, Bev had always seemed fiercely independent, like she didn't give a damn what anybody thought about her, and Annie guessed she had always been too intimidated to try and make friends with her.

_She was hiding something behind her back, _Annie blinked, tilting her head to try to see what it was but Bev shifted, obscuring her sight further.

"You okay?" Bill asked.

"I'm fine," Bev said quickly. "What's wrong with you?"

"None of your business," Stan told her, obviously trying to maintain secrecy.

"New kid outside, looks like someone killed him," Eddie told her, obviously not _caring _about secrecy.

"We need some s-s-s-supplies but-"

"But we don't have enough money," Annie finished, peeking back at Mister Keane again, trying to figure out a solution. They could start stuffing things into their pockets and under the fronts of their shirts, she supposed, but they would look rather obvious and if he caught them, Mister Keane would definitely call their parents. After the argument her parents had had the night before, that was about the last thing she needed. Her mom would probably accuse her of shoplifting for attention next.

So then what were they going to do? Ben was outside hurt and waiting for them to bring the damn supplies they had promised and-

"I'll help," Beverly said, looking past them at the counter. "When I tell you to go, then hurry up and go." And with that, she was walking past them.

"What's she going to do?" Stan asked, sounding concerned, but Bill was watching her walk away with a kind of dazed expression on his face.

Oh. _Oh. _So that's how it was.

Annie couldn't really blame Bill either. Beverly was remarkably lovely, with her fiery red hair and pretty smile. She supposed all of the guys probably had a thing for her.

Beverly reached the counter and said something to Mister Keane, who smiled back at her. A moment later, he offered Bev his glasses.

Annie blinked. "She's gonna make him blind so that we can leave without him seeing us?"

Eddie tightened his grip on the items in his arms but apparently blinding Mister Keane was _not _Bev's plan, as she did not give them any sign that they should leave.

Bev handed the glasses back over to Mister Keane, taking care to knock a display back over the counter when she did so. Mister Keane sighed before ducking down to pick it back up. Bev turned to glance over her shoulder at the four of them, nodding towards the door, and that was enough to have them turning to hurry out the door and back down the street where Ben and Richie were waiting for them.

Bev had seemed so confident, strolling up to Mister Keane the way she had. Annie doubted that she would ever be able to do something like that. And the way Bill had watched her… entranced. It made Annie feel a bit silly but she wanted Bill to look at _her _like that.

Of all the times to be thinking about that though, _now _certainly wasn't it. After everything that had happened the day before and with Ben hurt, what kind of silly-minded girl did she have to be to worry about something like that?

They reached the alleyway and Eddie immediately set to work, crouching down beside Ben and lifting his shirt to reveal the 'H' that Henry Bowers had carved into his stomach. She felt a surge of sympathy for the boy and opened the pain killers to pull out two, handing them over.

"Here," she said. "No water though for you to take them with. Sorry."

He took them, looking grateful, before popping them into his mouth and swallowing. "Thanks," he said.

"Figured it probably hurt a whole bunch," she said with a shrug. "What did you do to make him mad?"

"Didn't let him copy off of my final exam in math," Ben told her.

Eddie let out a low whistle. "You must have a death sentence, kid."

It wasn't exactly a secret that Henry had been held back in his math class more than once. If he was _this _mad at Ben, he had clearly failed again.

While they had been in the store, Ghost had settled down beside Ben and laid there even now, watching the whole affair transpire with indifference.

Setting his supplies on the ground, Eddie looked up at Annie. "Can you do me a favor and grab my bifocals? They're in my second fanny pack."

She nodded, already moving away, feeling rather proud that Eddie trusted _her _to get something out of one of his fanny packs? He kept all of his important medicines in there and it was with no small amount of trust that he would ask her to look inside.

"Dude, why do you have two fanny packs?" She heard Richie ask as she grabbed the pouch from the basket on Eddie's bike and opened it, grabbing the glasses immediately and returning to his side.

Eddie sighed and shook his head, accepting the glasses. "I need to focus right now," he told him. "It's a long story."

Annie crouched down beside Eddie and Ben, holding whatever Eddie needed up to him dutifully. From the end of the alley, she heard Bill speak and glanced over her shoulder to see that Beverly had shown up again and was offering Bill an amicable smile. Then she glanced down the alley and saw Ben and her eyes widened.

"Ben from Soc?' She started towards them, but the others were too occupied with trying to help to notice. Except for Ben, who self-consciously tried to tug down his t-shirt to cover up his stomach but Eddie wouldn't let him.

"You have to suck the wound before you apply the bandage," Richie told Eddie insistently, ignoring the disgusted look the other boy gave him in return.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Eddie said impatiently.

"Are you okay?" Bev asked when she reached them. She sounded concerned. "That looks like it hurts."

"No, I'm good," Ben shook his head. "I just fell."

Annie snorted. In what world did Ben think it looked like he had _just fell_?

"Yeah," Richie scoffed derisively. "Right into Henry Bowers."

Ben raised his head slowly to fix Richie with a disdainful look.

"Shut it, R-r-Richie," Bill snapped.

"Why? It's the truth!"

Annie and Eddie exchanged equal looks of exasperation, Annie slowly shaking her head. Richie could be oblivious even at the best of times. It wasn't that he was stupid, Annie knew he consistently got good grades, he just often didn't pay attention.

"You sure they got the right stuff to fix you up?" Bev asked, offering Ben a secret little wink that, Annie suspected, went mostly unnoticed.

Ben certainly noticed though, and quickly averted his gaze, his cheeks darkening with a blush.

"You know w-w-w-w-we'll take care of him," Bill told her, his own cheeks looking flush. His stutter always got worse when he was nervous, Annie noted, like when he was faced with a pretty girl who he had feelings for. "Thanks again, Beverly."

"Sure," Bev nodded, offering him a small smile before she began to turn away to leave. "Maybe I'll see you around."

"Yeah," Bill nodded eagerly. "We were maybe thinking about going to the q-q-quarry tomorrow if you wanna… "

Annie and Stan exchanged looks of confusion. They were? This was news to both of them.

"Come?" Bev asked, her smile widening. "Good to know. Thanks." And with that she was gone, headed back down the way she had come, leaving Bill to watch her leave, still with that kind of dazed expression on his face.

As soon as she was gone, Stan turned to fix Richie with a stern glare. "Nice going, bringing up Bowers in front of her!"

"Yeah," Eddie agreed. "Did you hear what she did?"

"What'd she do?" Ben asked, looking between them curiously.

"Nothing," Annie assured him before glaring at each of the boys in turn. "Just because Greta Bowie spread some nasty rumors about her doesn't mean they're true."

"It wasn't just Greta," Richie insisted. "I heard some guys talking about it in the locker room, and from what I've heard it's more like who she'd do. I heard that the list is longer than my wang."

Annie wrinkled her nose and shook her head, disgusted with the direction the conversation had turned.

"That's not saying much," Stan scoffed.

"They're j-j-just rumors," Bill told Ben firmly.

Richie rolled his eyes. "_Anyway_, Bill had her back in third grade. They kissed in the school play. The reviews said that you can't fake that kind of passion." Seemingly bored with that conversation he turned back to Eddie who was carefully cleaning the wound now. _"Now, pip pip and tally-ho my good fellows, I do believe this chap requires our utmost attention. Now get in there Dr. K and fix him up!"_

Eddie didn't even spare him a glance. "Why don't you shut the fuck up, Einstein, because I know what I'm doing and I don't want you doing the British guy!"

"_Suck the wound. Get in there!"_

* * *

Besides the Barrens, Annie's second favorite spot in Derry was the trainyard where she and Eddie would often wander on their own when the others had all wandered off to head home or do their own thing. They had no real reason really, other than they liked the quiet and liked to watch the occasional trains pass by.

Today, when Stan and Bill had headed off to see Ben home and Richie had gone home to mow the grass, Annie and Eddie had turned their bikes in the direction of the trainyard wordlessly and as they drew closer Annie dreaded more and more the question that she knew was coming.

_What's wrong, Annie? _

They pushed their bikes now, leaning them against the chain-link fence that lined the perimeter of the yard before walking inside, Ghost walking between them. They had ridden over in amicable silence but now that they were here, Annie didn't expect that to last long.

Eddie would ask her what was wrong and Annie would tell him and then one of two things would happen. Eddie would either believe her, or he would think she was crazy.

Once upon a time, a person could catch a passenger train at what was then the Neibolt Street Station, but those had stopped coming through Derry a long time ago, around the time that the Korean War had started up. These days, the only trains that came through Derry where long freighters carrying things like pulpwood or paper or potatoes or even manufactured goods like cars or trucks.

Eddie and Annie especially liked to go to the trainyard on Saturdays, when the most trains would come through.

For the most part, they were free to come and go as they liked and would only be sent away if Mister Braddock, the former trainmaster, found them. These days, no trains stopped in Derry and Annie imagined old Mister Braddock didn't have much to do.

Today, the trainyard seemed mostly empty. There hadn't been a full-time security officer since the early fifties and these days the only real form of security was some guy who drove by in his old Ford a couple of times a night.

Eddie and Annie both kept quiet as they heaved themselves up into an old, empty train car, sitting in the entrance and dangling their legs outside. Annie kicked her feet absently.

"Something's bothering you," Eddie said finally. Not a question, a statement. He didn't look at her but kept his gaze set on Ghost who was a few yards away, sniffing curiously at an old, empty crate.

"Yes," Annie responded but didn't elaborate.

"Did something happen with your parents?"

"No," Annie told him, before hesitating. "Well, actually yes, but that's not what's bothering me."

"So what is it?"

She bit her lip, looking at him unsurely. What if she told him and he laughed in her face?

_Don't be stupid! Eddie wouldn't do that!_

No, he probably wouldn't. But she also had not expected her mother to accuse her of lying to get attention so…

"I… saw something," Annie said finally, turning to look at him. "Yesterday afternoon."

Eddie looked up at her in alarm. "What? Something bad?"

She nodded gravely. "Yeah," she told him miserably. "Real bad. Only… when I told my parents what I saw, they didn't believe me. My mom accused _me of lying _to get attention. So… if I tell you, you have to promise to believe me."

_She sounded _pathetic_, _Annie thought, _practically begging Eddie to believe her. _

He looked surprised at how solemn she sounded but nodded. "Of course I will," he said.

"I saw… " she began, before shaking her head. "Look I know how this is going to sound, Eddie. I _know _it sounds crazy, but I was swimming yesterday and I got attacked by a _shark!_"

Eddie blinked, looking at her hard for a long moment as if expecting her to laugh. _Ha! Just kidding Eddie! Had you going there for a sec though, didn't I? _When that didn't happen he swallowed, brow furrowed in confusion.

"A shark?" He asked.

Annie groaned miserably, hiding her face in her hands. "You don't believe me!"

"_What?" _Eddie sounded panicked. "No! Of course, I believe you, Annie! I believe you think you saw the shark!" He reached out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Annie raised her head to look at him again, frowning. "You think I imagined it?" She asked.

Eddie was frowning too, looking unsure what to say, like he was afraid that anything that came out of his mouth could be the wrong thing. "Well… I mean… it couldn't have been a _real _shark," he told her finally.

"Look," Annie sighed. "I know it _couldn't _have been. But it was. And Ghost saw it too and was barking at it just like he was barking today in the Barrens. That's why I was so scared and wanted to leave so badly. I thought… I thought something else bad was going to happen. And… if Bill had asked me to go into that tunnel I would have, even though I was so scared. Eddie, I've never been so scared in my life as I was yesterday but today, in the Barrens… it came pretty close… "

Eddie reached out slowly, grabbing Annie's hand and holding it tight. "So if he asks you tell him no, Annie," he told her, sounding suddenly fierce. "If you're scared, you tell him no."

_Easier said than done, _Annie thought. She didn't think that Eddie would be any more capable of telling Bill no that she would if he seriously asked. As if he could sense the thoughts going through her mind, he squeezed her hand again.

"I'm serious."

"Sure," she nodded slowly. "Sure, I'll tell him that." She didn't sound entirely convinced, and Eddie didn't look like he believed her at all.

After a moment, Annie took a deep breath and decided to press the original issue again. "What about the shark?"

"Well," Eddie began thoughtfully. "It was in the swimming hole, right? So just don't go back in until the rest of us are over and can check for a shark ourselves."

Well, that… seemed perfectly logical… Why hadn't Annie thought of that? She wouldn't even need to tell the others what had happened because _if _there was something in the water then they would notice immediately, right? And she would be fine to swim in the quarry because there was no way it could have gotten from one body of water to the other.

Suddenly, Annie felt glad that she had confided in Eddie. He always had a way of making her feel better about things.

"Okay," she said. "Yeah, that sounds good."

Offering her a smile, Eddie squeezed her hand gently and she squeezed his back, feeling suddenly in a better mood than she had all day.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**** Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who has followed or reviewed this story! I really appreciate it and always look forward to what you guys have to say regarding my chapters!**


	5. Leap Of Faith

_**Leap Of**** Faith**_

Eddie's words of wisdom had worked wonders for Annie most of the night before, she had been in a perfectly pleasant mood when she had gotten home and okay, _yes _she had had nightmares, but that was not terribly uncommon. Kids had nightmares all the time, _nothing strange. _

But that morning, when she had sat down to breakfast with her father, he had turned on the news on the little television they had sitting on the edge of the kitchen counter. Annie had not really been paying attention, too busy trying to sneak Ghost pieces of sausage.

_"Local teen, Patrick Hoffstetter has been reported missing this morning by his parents," _The reporter said, drawing Annie's attention upward. She gaped at the tv. Hadn't Ben said that Patrick had been with Henry the day before?

"Another kid missing," her father, mused, shaking his head and sipping his coffee. "Damn shame. Did you know him, Annie?"

"Yes," Annie told him, not making eye contact. "He was friends with Henry Bowers."

_Was. _As if he was already gone, already dead.

For a moment Annie was compelled to tell her father that it had been Patrick who had shoved her down in the Barrens two years ago, that she hadn't fallen at all. But that would do no good now and anyway, she might actually get into trouble for lying in the first place.

Still, without thinking about it her hand drifted up so she could brush her fingers against her hairline, where that damned scar was. Patrick had always been _particularly _scary. Scarier than Henry Bowers even and Henry himself was batshit crazy.

Annie could remember the first time she had met Patrick. She had been heading to meet her friends in the Barrens during that first summer and Patrick had called out to her from the street corner. Ignoring him would have seemed the height of rudeness and so Annie had warily walked over to see whatever Patrick had been holding in his hands. As it turned out, it was a pencil case full of dead flies.

Annie's stomach had turned, especially when she looked up at Patrick to see that smile he was giving her. _His eyes had been dark, very dark. Shark eyes. Dead eyes. He looked like something out of a horror movie, _Annie had thought then, before making her excuses and hurrying away.

When she had told the others what had happened a few minutes later she had been advised to stay away from Patrick and Annie had taken that to heart. Fine, no problem. You wouldn't catch her arguing.

Now, as she sat there watching a news report about the boy, something cold clenched her heart. _Good riddance, _she thought, instantly feeling guilty.

Hurriedly she finished her breakfast before taking the plate over to the sink to wash it and beginning to hurry out of the kitchen, intent on getting her things and hurrying to meet the others at the quarry.

"Annie?"

She hesitated in the doorway, turning back to look at her father who was watching her with a furrowed brow.

"You okay, kiddo?" He asked.

Annie blinked, staring at her father for a long moment before forcing a smile. "Yes sir," she told him. "I gotta hurry up and go meet the others. We're going swimming today."

Her dad looked troubled by something but finally gave her a simple nod. "Be careful today, okay?"

"Okay," and with that she was gone, collecting her things into a backpack before stopping briefly in the kitchen again to gather up some snacks to eat later for lunch. By then, her father had already finished up his breakfast and had headed outside to start his work for the day.

Without bothering to say goodbye to her mother, who was still asleep, Annie hopped on her bike and took off, trying hard not to think about missing Patrick Hockstetter and the feeling she had gotten down in the Barrens the day prior, and trying even harder not to think about the shark.

The bike ride to the barrens was a familiar one and as Annie rode up the hill leading to the highest vantage point which would provide the _coolest _dive into the water below, she gave a squeeze to her bike's oogah horn, alerting them to her presence.

"Hey!" She called, dismounting. They were all set to swim, having stripped down to only their underwear. The first time they had gone swimming down here, Annie had blushed and spent the whole time stammering, never having seen a boy in his underpants before, but these days she was just used to it.

"You're late," Richie told her. She shrugged in response.

"I was having breakfast with my dad," Annie said. It was true, of course, but it wasn't the _truth. _She had been watching that damned news broadcast. Probably, she should tell the others but now was not the time. "What are you guys doing just standing up here?"

"Waiting for you," Eddie told her at the same time Ben said, "Playing loogie."

Annie wrinkled her nose. "It's a shame I missed that."

"Alright, come on," Richie turned, nudging Eddie to draw his attention again. "Who's going first?"

None of them looked too eager at the idea, being the first to jump was always scary, but a new voice called, quite suddenly, "I'll go!"

They all turned in surprise to see the Beverly had arrived and allowed her bike to fall to the ground while she unbuttoned her dress, stripping down to her underwear. The others gaped at her even as Bev gave them an easy smile and rushed past them, calling out a good-natured _"Sissies!" _before leaping over the edge and plunging down into the water far below.

"_What the fuck?" _She heard Richie yell, pretty accurately summarizing what Annie was sure they were all feeling.

Not one to be outdone, Richie and Bill were quick to follow, leaving the others to stand around and decide who was next.

_Bev's hair was shorter_, Annie noted idly, blinking, trying to process what had just happened and the amount of self-confidence it must have taken for her to be able to do that. She had just… thrown her clothes off. Like it was nothing.

But that's what the boys had done too. Annie looked up at them with a furrowed brow. Well if _they _could do it, and _Bev _could do it, then why couldn't Annie?

With that firm resolve, she reached up and began to pull her own dress over her head.

"_What are you doing?" _

Annie blinked, looking up to see that Eddie had turned to face her, his eyes stretched almost comically wide. If she wasn't so nervous to be just taking her clothes off, it would even be funny.

Stan and Ben turned to face her too and Stan immediately flushed, looking away quickly while Ben seemed to decide that jumping into the water seemed very inviting and leaped in as well.

"I'm about to go swimming," Annie told Eddie as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah but…" He didn't seem to have a good reply to that and was very pointedly not meeting her gaze. _And _his face was very, very red.

_Sure, _Annie thought. _I'm his best friend. He probably thinks it's weird that I'm doing it. _

But as Annie allowed her pretty gingham dress to flutter to the ground, it felt more like she was proving a point.

Now, only in her pink cotton underwear, Annie walked forward to peer down into the water below where their friends were waiting. It was a clear, blue day and the sun was sweltering. It was the perfect day for swimming.

But, as Annie peered down at the water she felt her stomach flop unpleasantly. She was thinking of all those teeth and those awful black eyes. Like Patrick Hockstetter's eyes, dark and empty. Evil eyes.

"Annie?"

It was Stan who spoke up, making her look up at him in surprise. Usually, Annie would go jumping in, eager to splash in the water below. She never hesitated.

"I forgot sunscreen," She said simply, giving him a small smile. "You have some, right Eddie?"

"Of course," Eddie replied immediately, sounding surprised. Annie knew he would have some, of course. His mom never let him leave the house without it, even on cloudy days.

"You go ahead Stan," Annie told him. "We'll be just a minute."

Left with no other excuses, Stan nodded and looked reluctantly down at the water before jumping in.

For a moment, Annie stood and examined their friends swimming down below. Everything seemed perfectly fine, there was nothing amiss. No sharks coming from nowhere to pull them down into the depths.

"Annie?"

She turned to find Eddie offering his bottle of sunblock to her and she took it gratefully.

"You don't usually worry about sunblock," he pointed out, watching as she squeezed a portion into her hand and began to rub it into her arms and shoulders.

"No," she agreed. "I'm just… "

"Thinking about what happened?" He was looking at her critically, brown eyes narrowed.

"You always know what's going on in my head," Annie sighed, smearing some sunblock across her face now.

Eddie looked rather proud of himself. "That's because I'm your best friend," he told her, accepting the bottle of sunblock when she handed it back and putting it into his fanny pack.

Silence fell between them as he zipped the bag back up and placed it on top of his pile of clothes. "I don't like you being scared," he said finally, not looking at her. "I'm supposed to be the scaredy-cat."

"You're not a scaredy-cat!" Annie told him fiercely. "I'm the one over here afraid of imaginary _maybe _sharks."

He looked up at her again, expression softening. "Want to jump down together?" He asked.

_That, _Annie realized, _was exactly what she wanted. _And so, with a grateful smile, she took his outstretched hand in hers and together they stepped up to the edge and jumped.

* * *

Annie had freckles all down her shoulders and arms and back. Eddie supposed he had noticed before, he had seen her in swimsuits and tank tops before, but he had never _really _noticed the way they were scattered like cinnamon over tanned skin.

The only problem now was that he was fairly certain the other guys were noticing too.

When she had first taken her dress off, doing the exact same thing that Beverly had done only a moment prior, Eddie was _pretty sure _he had died. Now? Well, he thought maybe he was in heaven with the way she was sitting with her back to them, dangling her feet in the water. Her hair was mostly dry now and the sun cast it in brilliant gold.

She didn't seem to notice that the others were looking between her and Bev, who was stretched out sunbathing. She kept her gaze cast out over the water, toes just barely brushing the surface, and Eddie couldn't help but wonder if she was thinking about the shark again.

The song on the boombox that Richie had brought down changed, _Bust a Move _now blaring through the speakers and Eddie couldn't help but roll his eyes.

_Seriously? _Of all the songs?

Annie glanced back over her shoulder, looking thoroughly unimpressed at the song. She seemed to notice the way the other boys were staring at Bev and caught Eddie's eye, lips quirking up in amusement. He grinned back in response and Annie stood suddenly, moving to take a seat next to him on his rock.

She reached forward to grab her backpack, retrieving a Moon Pie from inside. She opened it up and broke it in half before offering Eddie a piece, which he gratefully accepted.

"_News flash, Ben, school's out for summa!" _

Annie furrowed her brow, looking past Eddie who turned to see that Richie was rifling through Ben's bag carelessly and had seemingly come across a stack of books and papers. Annie rolled her eyes. It wouldn't have been anything for Richie to have done that to one of them, but Ben didn't know him very well yet, and still looked quite unsure of what to do.

"Oh, that's not school stuff," Ben said finally.

Eddie blinked. He didn't know a whole lot of kids who carried around big books like that just for the fun of it. Even _he _didn't, and Eddie liked reading better than most other kids his age.

He supposed _maybe _Annie would, she had huge stacks of books in her bedroom, most of them old that she had bought used for very cheap, but _not _big, leather-bound books like the ones Ben seemed to have.

He certainly was a strange kid, carefully polite and quiet, but he was friendly enough and had gone through school since he had moved to Derry with no friends. Eddie figured he was probably pretty happy to be included in the group.

Bev too hadn't seemed to have many friends, Eddie supposed maybe because she was from the lower-income part of Derry or because of the rumors he had heard about her. Girls avoided her, sneering at her in the hallways, and boys often sought her out only for Bev to tell them that they could fuck right off.

She had never seemed to care much about the rumors spread about her but maybe that was a mask and maybe she too was thankful to be suddenly part of a group of friends.

Or maybe, Eddie thought, she was just happy to get to hang out with Bill. He had seen the way they had been peeking glances at each other all day and despite what some of the other kids at school seemed to think, Eddie wasn't stupid. He knew the kinds of looks they were exchanging because he reserved looks like that for one girl in particular.

"Who sent you this!" Richie asked suddenly, holding up what looked like a postcard. Before he could read it, however, Ben snatched it away.

"No one!" He said quickly.

Richie didn't seem at all perturbed and quickly turned his attention back to the contents of the backpack, pulling out still more papers. "What's with the history project?" He asked, cocking a brow.

"Oh," Ben seemed almost embarrassed, blushing slightly. "Well when I first moved here I really didn't have anyone to hang out with so I just started spending time in the library."

"You went to the library?" Richie asked, sounding surprised. "On purpose."

From beside Eddie, Annie gave a little snort of laughter. "Well, Richie, some people actually _know _how to read."

Richie turned to offer Annie a light-hearted glare and stuck his middle finger up playfully at her to which Annie only smiled in response, batting her lashes innocently.

"I wanna see," Bev said suddenly, standing and taking her sunglasses off. She moved to sit next to Bill and reached over so that Richie could pass some of the papers over.

Annie watched her for a moment, clearly taking in the almost sheepish look Bill offered her. With anyone else, Eddie might have expected a look of jealousy to pass over their face but Annie only smiled softly. When she realized Eddie was watching, Annie's smile widened.

She was, Eddie decided, too nice for her own good. But that wasn't exactly a recent development. She had always been sweet and kind and not just where Eddie was concerned. He had seen it the day before, hadn't he? When she had crouched down next to Ben and had spoken to him so gently, knowing that he had been scared and in pain.

She only ever teased lightly and that was never out of spite or meanness. Annie always seemed so thoughtful about what the others might be thinking or feeling and she always tried to be considerate of those feelings.

Richie said it was because Annie was a girl and girls were just more sensitive than boys. Eddie wasn't sure if that was quite right and thought maybe it had more to do with Annie's temperament._ She was just a nice person _he had told Richie who had knowingly rolled his eyes.

So instead of hating Beverly for getting Bill's attention in the way that _she _wanted his attention, she had only smiled and accepted her.

Eddie felt a sudden rush of affection for her, thinking suddenly that she was _too _good, _too _soft, _too _kind and that being those things was perfectly okay.

"What's the Black Spot?" Stan asked.

Annie perked up like she was sitting in English class again and had been asked a question.

"It was a nightclub that was burnt down in like… the fifties by this racist cult."

The others all turned to look at her in surprise and Annie blinked before shrugging one delicate shoulder. "Mike Hanlon told me," she explained. "His dad told him. His dad worked at it with some other company men when they were in the military. Mike said that it was burned down by that racist cult."

And on that thoroughly depressing note, the group continued to look through the research in Ben's bag.

"Y-y-y-y-your hair… " Bill was looking at Beverly with _that _look on his face again, a flush on his cheeks.

She looked slightly concerned, reaching up to touch the now much shorter strands self-consciously.

"Your hair looks beautiful, Beverly," Ben interjected before Bill could stutter through a compliment.

"You should talk to Mr. Hanlon," Annie said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to her again. "He knows a lot about Derry. You could probably learn a lot from him."

Eddie himself didn't know much about Mike Hanlon or his family. He had met him, of course, usually with Annie orchestrating the whole thing. They were neighbors and Eddie knew their dads were friends. Annie and Mike got along quite well too, come to think of it.

"Why's it all murders and missing kids?" Richie asked, flipping through more papers.

Ben swallowed, looking suddenly nervous. "Derry's not like any town I've ever been in before," he began gravely. "They did a study once… it turns out people die or disappear six times the national average."

Eddie felt his stomach clench up with something akin to fear. "You read that?" He asked.

Ben nodded slowly. "Not just grown-ups. Kids are worse. Way, _way_ worse."

"Makes sense," Annie said softly. "I mean think of all the kids who've gone missing just since last October." Bill looked up sharply at that but Annie didn't seem to be paying attention. She had instead turned her attention to her feet but Eddie got the feeling that her mind was about a million miles away. "Georgie, Cheryl Lamonica, Chad Lowe, Veronica Grogan, Jimmy Cullum, Betty Ripsom, Patrick Hockstetter. All kids that we knew?"

"Wait," Eddie blinked. "What do you mean Patrick Hockstetter?" He turned to Ben. "Didn't you say he was chasing you yesterday?"

Apparently Ben didn't know that anything had happened to Patrick either because he appeared as surprised as Eddie felt. "He was. What happened?"

Annie shrugged. "I saw a news report this morning. He was reported missing."

Silence fell over them, each of them taking a moment to let this information sink in. None of the group felt particularly upset about this, Patrick had _tortured _them after all, but it was still pretty scary to think about.

Without looking up Annie brushed her shoulder against Eddie's and even without speaking he knew she was thinking the same thing as him. She was scared too.

"I've got more stuff if you want to see it," Ben said, breaking that silence.

* * *

It seemed as if the homes of Annie's friends was a revolving set of her life. Mostly they were down in the Barrens but sometimes they would hang out in Richie's backyard or in Bill's garage or eat dinner at Stan's or suck on popsicles on Annie's back porch (they rarely hung out at Eddie's house, partially because they hated his mother breathing down their necks but mostly because Mrs. Kaspbrak _hated _Annie). It had been a long time since a new house had been added to the rotation.

There were different things Annie liked about each of her friend's homes. She liked to look through Bill's sketchbooks that he kept hidden away, liked to compare his drawings to her own, and there were even times, on the rare occasion that it had been _only _Annie at his house, that they would draw together. She liked all the different cassette tapes that Richie had and liked, even more, when he would carelessly let her pick the music for them to listen to. She liked how Stan's father seemed to possess endless knowledge of different kinds of birds. He knew even more about birds than Stan, who seemed to perpetually be quietly pointing out a new kind to Annie who was always delighted to observe a new species.

Ben's house wasn't much like the other's. It was smaller, for one thing, sitting on the end of a quiet street. It was immediately obvious, upon walking inside, that it was only Ben and his mother living here. There were no pictures of Ben's father in recent years, only of Ben in varying ages and sometimes of Ben with his mother, a kind-looking woman who liked quite a good bit like her son. He clearly didn't have any siblings if the pictures on the wall were anything to go by.

The house, though small, was well-kept, even if the furniture was a bit dated. Most of all, though, it was entirely empty. Ben's mother, the boy explained, was at work. This was pretty strange to Annie, mostly because it seemed like _none _of her friends' mother's worked. Not even Eddie's mom who, he had explained once, spent most of her day in front of the television.

Eddie himself had lost his father when he was very young and Annie didn't know where his mother got her money from, but she had always known better than to ask.

Looking around curiously as she followed Ben to his bedroom, she couldn't help but wonder where _his _dad was but got the same sense that it would be rude to ask.

Ben was walking quite a bit faster than the rest of them, obviously trying to get to his room before the rest of them and Annie couldn't help but smile slightly. Hadn't she done that same thing, the first time her friends had seen her room, wanting to make sure there was nothing embarrassing laid out for them to see?

Deciding to let Ben have a moment, Annie wandered further, glancing into the living room and letting out a low whistle. Ben had set up a very cool looking bridge using an erector set.

"_Annie?" _

She glanced over her shoulder to see Eddie looking at her, gesturing her back down the hall.

"You can't just wander around people's houses," he said as she walked back towards the others.

"I was just taking a peek," she shrugged slightly. "Not like I was looking into drawers or anything. That's what Richie does."

"_Do not!" _

She giggled lightly before offering Eddie a toothy grin. He shook his head with a kind of affectionate exasperation.

"I heard he has a roller coaster and a chimpanzee… and the bones of an old man," Richie told them quietly all in one breath as they began to enter Ben's room.

Annie rolled her eyes. "Do you believe everything you hear?"

"Yes!"

They looked up to see Ben standing in the center of the room, one hand holding himself up as he leaned against his bad, trying to look nonchalant.

"Woah, woah, woah,_ wow!_" Richie was looking past Ben at the vast amount of what appeared to be information and images of Derry pinned to his wall.

"Cool, huh?" Ben asked, sounding proud.

"No, nothing cool. There's nothing cool."

Annie glowered at her friend, who seemed mostly oblivious, before turning to Ben. "I think it's cool," she told him. He beamed at her.

"Well, this is cool… wait, no it's not… "

"What's that?" Eddie asked, pointing at a very important looking piece of paper.

"That?" Ben stepped up, looking at the document. "That's the charter for Derry Township."

"_Nerd alert,"_ Richie coughed into his hand, looking quite disappointed when nobody laughed.

"Actually, it's really interesting," Ben told him. "Derry started as a beaver trapping camp."

"Still is, am I right, boys?" Richie asked, turning and raising his hand to get a high five from Stan who promptly ignored him, still looking at Ben expectantly.

"Ninety-one people signed the charter that made Derry," Ben continued. "But later that winter, they all disappeared without a trace."

"The entire camp?" Stan asked, surprised.

"There were rumors of Indians… but no sign of an attack. Everyone thought it was a plague or something.

But it's like… one day everybody just woke up and left. The only clue was a trail of clothes leading to the well-house."

Annie, who had lived in Derry for what now felt like a very long time, felt her blood run cold. She hadn't known about any of that. She knew about the Black Spot because of Mr. Hanlon and knew about the Kitchner Ironworks explosion because _everyone _knew about this. But surely if the other kids her age knew about this they would talk about it. It was _creepy. _

She thought suddenly of the Roanoke colony that they had learned about is Social Studies that year. Their teacher had started the lesson around Halloween with a secretive smile on her face, apparently delighting in how creepy her students might find it. Annie had half a mind to go tell that particular teacher that there was a _much _creepier lesson that she could have taught that hit _much _closer to home.

"Jesus," Richie whistled. "We can go on _Unsolved Mysteries_."

"Let's do it!" Eddie exclaimed. "You are brilliant!"

"Add in all the missing kids and we'd make for a perfect episode," Annie added. "Plus I mean… there's other stuff too right? Like Kitchner Ironworks. That was kind of a freak accident, wasn't it? All the equipment was shut down and it _still _exploded."

"Where was the well house?" Bill asked suddenly, looking through some projector slides that Ben had sitting on his desk.

"I don't know," Ben shrugged. "Somewhere in town, I guess. Why?"

Bill shook his head quickly. "Nothing."

* * *

They all moved to leave, walking down the front steps of Ben's house and waving goodbye at the boy, who stood in the doorway and watched them go.

She lifted her bike from where she had allowed it to fall to the ground and had started to turn it in the direction of the trainyard, even without saying anything to Eddie.

A tap on her shoulder had her turning to find Bev standing there, offering Annie a small smile. "Wanna go get some ice cream?" Bev asked. "My treat."

Annie couldn't help but feel surprised, having expected Bev to ask Bill before anyone else. And yet Bev stood there, looking hopeful.

"Um… "

"I want ice cream!" Richie interjected.

Bev barely even glanced at him. "I thought Annie and I could go look at clothes or something after," she said. "You want to go look at clothes, Richie?"

Annie understood exactly what this was suddenly. She was asking Annie because she was a _girl. _

"Sure," Annie said, offering Eddie an apologetic look. He was looking between the two of them with a furrowed brow, expression unreadable.

Bev smiled widely at her and together the two of them started off in one direction, allowing the boys to head in the other.

Things were mostly quiet between them at first, with the two of them walking and pushing their bikes along.

"Is Eddie your boyfriend?" Bev asked finally.

Annie spluttered, turning to look at the other girl, her face turning deep red. Why was she blushing?

"I-uh… he… we… um… " She shook her head, trying to sort out her words. "We're just friends," she managed. "_Best friends._"

"Oh, okay." Bev didn't look entirely like she believed her.

Annie wondered suddenly why Bev had asked. She thought Beverly liked Billy but maybe she had misread the situation and she _actually _liked Eddie. It would make sense. Eddie was cute and funny. Thinking about Bev potentially having a crush on Eddie though left a bad taste in Annie's mouth though.

_Why _though? It was weird.

"Does Bill have a girlfriend?" Bev asked hesitantly.

So Annie had been right.

"No," she shook her head. "I think he likes you though."

Bev perked up, looking almost hopeful and Annie found that she was _much _more okay with Bev liking Bill than the idea of Bev liking _Eddie. _

_It's because he's my best friend, _she thought determinedly. _And because I love him more than just about anybody else in the whole world. _

Yet that thought wasn't entirely convincing._ Better not to think about it_, she thought and so instead she smiled secretively at Bev.

"Bill is pretty cute, huh?" She asked.

It was Bev's turn to blush, but instead of seeming embarrassed she offered Annie a wide grin. "Yeah," she said. "He is."

_Bev,_ Annie realized suddenly, _was not nearly as intimidating as she had seemed in school. In fact, she was pretty nice. _

This realization came with a sudden surge of protectiveness. Screw Greta Bowie and every nasty thing she had ever said about Bev. Beverly Marsh was perfectly nice, with an amount of confidence that was admirable. And _now _she was Annie's friend.

* * *

When Annie finally returned home that evening, she was feeling good. She had had fun hanging out with Bev. The two had gotten ice cream and then wandered around the shops in town. Annie had even bought some new books at the used book store in town, a hardback copy of _Alice in Wonderland _and a book on cars that she thought Eddie might like. She had even bought a couple of old records that they had available there for a dime.

She pushed open the front door and stepped in the house, greeting Ghost with vigorous scratches behind the ears when he came bounding down the hall to greet her.

"Annie?" She heard her father call from the living room. The television was on and he had probably been watching it while he waited for dinner to finish cooking.

"Yeah," she called back, beginning to head down the hall. She needed to check to make sure that Ghost had food and water and then she was going to head upstairs to listen to her new (well, new to her) Fleetwood Mac vinyl and read before din-

"Eddie Kaspbrak called."

She came around the corner to find her father looking at her, a strange expression on his face.

Annie blinked, surprised. "He did?" What had Eddie called about? It seemed strange that he would after they had spent most of the day hanging out.

"Yeah, he said it was important. You might want to call him back."

Fearing the worst, Annie headed back into the front hall and picked up the phone, dialing Eddie's number from memory. It rang twice before a familiar voice picked up.

_"Hello?"_

"Eddie?"

"_Annie." _He sounded almost like he was about to cry which confirmed Annie's suspicions that something bad had happened. Was something wrong with his mother?

"What's wrong?" She asked immediately.

There was a moment of silence and Annie feared that the line had disconnected. Then, Eddie finally took a deep breath and spoke again.

_"I saw something."_

* * *

**AUTHOR'S**** NOTE:**** Again not much to say here! Hope you enjoyed! Please read and review! I'm always so pleased to know what you guys think!**


	6. Stranger and Stranger

**Stranger and Stranger**

That morning, as Annie had sat down to rush through her breakfast with her father, he was quick to gather that something was wrong.

"Is Eddie okay?" He asked, watching her from the corner of his eye as she hurriedly ate Frosted Flakes.

She hesitated, looking up at him in surprise. She had been deep in her own thoughts and hadn't even really registered that her father was sitting there, looking through the morning paper, his own bowl of soggy cereal in front of them.

_I saw something. _

"Sorry?" She asked, tilting her head.

_Annie, I'm scared. _

Her father took his time answering, reaching forward to grab his mug of coffee and taking a long sip before asking again. "I asked if Eddie is okay," he said. "The kid sounded pretty upset when he called yesterday. Did you two have a fight or something?"

"_What? _No, his mom just upset him is all," Annie shrugged before bringing her bowl to her mouth to drain the leftover milk. Then she stood, taking it over to the sink to wash it. "She can be pretty overprotective sometimes and it rubs Eddie the wrong way. Anyway, I told him I'd come over early today, so I'd better go."

She turned to go, moving hurriedly from the kitchen before her dad said something else that would delay her even more. That last part wasn't a lie, she had told Eddie that she would come over early. She was _worried _about the boy and wanted to talk about what he had seen since he hadn't been willing to talk much about it over the phone.

_It was at the house on Neibolt Street. _

Before Annie went to Eddie's house though, she had to make a stop.

Grabbing her backpack, Annie hurried towards the front door but was stopped by the phone ringing. She hesitated, wondering who could be calling so early, before pulling it off the hook, fearing the worse. What if whatever Eddie had seen had decided to come back?

_What if it had gotten him? _

"Hello?"

"Annie?"

She blinked, brow furrowing in confusion.

"Beverly?"

She heard her new friend sigh in relief. A feeling of dread began to pool in Annie's stomach and she began to wonder just what the _hell _was going on.

"Do you…. do you think you and the guys could come to my house today?" Bev asked. "I need to show you something. Not now!" She added quickly. "Around noon."

A moment of silence followed before Annie finally spoke. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I'll get them to come."

"Thank you, Annie."

And with that, they hung up and Annie stood there for a moment longer, wondering if it wouldn't be better, after all, to just head back upstairs and climb back into bed and forget everything that had happened. Eddie hadn't seen anything and Bev didn't have anything to show them and kids weren't missing and dying in Derry and everything was normal.

_But Eddie is scared. And so are you. _

She had to go, and so she went, pushing open the front door and stepping out into the early morning sunlight. The sound of a whimper from behind her had Annie turning to find Ghost pressing his nose against the screen door, looking pitiful.

"No Ghost," Annie shook her head. "It's too dangerous. Stay home."

Unused to being told to stay home, Ghost sat tilting his head in confusion and Annie felt a pang in her heart. But it wasn't safe for Ghost to come where she was going and Annie didn't think she would be able to stand if something happened to her dog.

He whined again as Annie turned to leave, not stopping to look back at him. She grabbed her bike and began to ride down the street, pausing only to wave at Mr. Hanlon and Mike who were outside, already getting an early start on chores.

"Good morning!" She called. They waved back and Annie continued on her way. She had told Eddie that she would be over as soon as possible but her curiosity was practically killing her and though her common sense said that she should stay far away from the house on Neibolt Street, she couldn't help herself.

She turned her bike like she was heading towards the trainyard but when she reached the corner, instead of turning right she turned left.

Every kid in Derry knew about the house on Neibolt Street. Nobody had lived in it for as long as Annie had lived in Derry and even for a long time before that. There were all sorts of rumors about the place that had been spread through school. Richie Tozier liked to claim that there were all manners of drug deals taking place inside and that teenagers liked to use the abandoned house as a place to hook up.

Annie supposed to first one might be true, but couldn't imagine that there was anybody in the world who wanted to get naked in a place like _this. _It looked like you would need a tetanus shot just from stepping inside (Eddie had said that once and Annie was inclined to agree).

According to her father, homeless people and tramps liked to stay inside the house and had warned Annie away from the place, disliking the number of beer bottles littering the front yard, clear evidence of the types of people who frequented the run-down house. He had told her they were nothing but a bunch of drunk vagrants inside and if Annie ventured too close they might do something really bad.

His words had scared her badly but they had also served their purpose. Annie gave the house a wide berth usually, only passing by occasionally when she and Eddie headed to the train yard, though they often opted to take the long way around.

With her heart pounding in her chest, Annie parked her bike, putting down the kickstand, before walking to the front gate, peering past it critically.

The sunflowers bobbing in the front yard seemed almost friendly, like they were saying hello. In fact, they seemed to urge Annie onward.

_Come on in, Annie. It's not so bad here. Just a little bit messy but it's nothing you can't fix. There are no fighting parents here, Annie, and no dead sisters either. Won't you come in and stay awhile, Annie?  
_

_Yes, _she thought, distantly. _Maybe I will. _

She pushed open the front gate and stepped into the yard, eyes set on the front door. Her heart felt like it had settled somewhere in her throat now but she hardly noticed as she continued to walk forward, almost in a daze.

"Hello?" She called. Her voice sounded very small, almost pitiful.

The sound of something moving over broken glass had her freezing, eyes scanning the front of the house in a panic.

The skittering of many legs brought her suddenly back to herself, just as something large and hairy emerged from beneath the front porch.

She stared at it, and it seemed to stare right back and Annie was close enough to see herself reflected in its eight eyes.

_Christ, _she thought, her breaths beginning to become panicked. _It's a goddamn spider!_

Annie _hated _spiders, had always hated spiders ever since she was a little and her older cousin had told her about a friend who had died after getting bitten by a brown recluse.

_Spiders can kill you, _she had asked in wide-eyed amazement. That night, when she had found a fresh spider web in the corner of her bedroom she had screamed and screamed, certain that it was going to come to kill her.

_Now, _she thought, _this one probably was going to kill her. _This wasn't just any spider. It was huge, giant even, at least as big as Ghost. God, why hadn't she listened to her dad?

Annie began to back away, making a horrified noise in the back of her throat. She was reminded suddenly of the shark. Hadn't it had the same horrible shiny, shiny black eyes.

And hadn't she been in the same position then, running away from something she had been scared of since she was very small.

_Gonna getcha, Annie! Gonna killya! _

_"No!" _She yelled, still backpedaling. Her foot struck one of those empty beer bottles her father was always eyeing with disdain and she toppled over, landing on her back.

She had never been so scared in her life as she was at that moment, with that giant spider skittering closer. A sob tore free of her throat and distantly, Annie realized she was crying.

Eddie had told her he had seen something and Annie had idiotically come investigating. What had she expected to find here? Smoke and mirrors? Evidence that somebody was tricking them?

Eddie would realize that something had happened before any of the others. He might even figure out what she had done and come looking for her but Annie hoped he wouldn't. Then, Bev would realize when they didn't show up at her house.

Eddie would let her parents know, of course, so maybe she would be reported missing before the day was over but Annie didn't think it would do much good. She had a feeling that if she was lost now then she would never be found.

_This is what's happening to the others_, she realized, rising up onto her elbows and trying to scramble back, away from the creature.

She needed to get up, needed to get to her feet. That was the only way she was going to get away. But even as that realization hit her, the command didn't seem to reach the rest of her body.

It was at her feet now and began to climb up her body. As soon as it touched her, it was like a switch went off in Annie and she began to scream.

She screamed and screamed and began to squirm, managing to gather her legs up to her chest and, realizing this was likely her last chance, a last-ditch effort. Annie couldn't waste it.

She lashed out with both legs, delivering a powerful kick to the spider's face. She heard the telltale _squish _sound and recognized, even as she was clambering to her feet that she had kicked it so hard that some of its eyes had burst.

Her stomach turned but she couldn't stop to think about that disgusting fact. She had to _move. _

The spider let out a ragged cry of pain just as Annie began to run, heading back the way she had come. She heard the sound of it moving again and then there was a distant kind of pain as it clamped down on the bare skin of Annie's leg.

_"No!" _She cried. She was going to get away! She _had _to! She was so close!

_"NO!" _She yelled again, delivering another swift kick to the spider. It gave a meaty _thwack _before sailing across the yard, lighter than it looked.

She didn't hesitate to see where it landed, she was flying, making a break for her bike. Despite her better judgment, she hesitated when she wrapped her hands around the handlebars, glancing over her shoulder to make sure it wasn't following behind. What she saw instead made her gasps.

Standing in the yard, offering a wide smile, was a clown. Blood dripped down from his mouth. _Her blood, _Annie realized. _He _had been the spider.

"Where are you going, Annie Bell?" He asked. "I thought we were having fun."

Maybe it was the fact that he had called her Annie Bell that made another sob tear forth from her throat. Eddie was the only one who ever called her that. How had he known?

_"I'll tell Amy you said hello!" _The clown called as Annie climbed onto the bike. This time, she did not look back.

Her leg throbbed painfully and she felt blood dripping down her leg, staining her sock red. Her mother would have something to say about that later if Annie didn't sneak the sock into the trash. She couldn't think about that now, had to think about moving _faster. _

She had seen a _clown. _Hadn't Amy said something about a clown before she died.

The clown had said _Amy's _name. A dull sense of rage began to beat in Annie's chest. How did he know about Amy? How the _fuck _did he know about Amy.

_There was a clown outside my window last night, Annie. _

She had thought Amy had dreamed that or else hallucinated it because there was no way a _clown _had been outside her window on the _third _floor.

Now, she wasn't so sure.

* * *

IT watched the girl go, something akin to disappointment washing over IT. IT had hoped for a tasty, tasty meal but it was no matter. Better to wait. The meat always tasted better that way.

IT had wanted the sister first, had sensed her fear when IT had first awakened after It's long, long sleep. The girl was already going to die, IT had just wanted to get there first.

But the girl hadn't been scared of IT, not really. And that made all the difference. Still, having lost out of _one _easy meal had left a rotten feeling in IT's mouth.

Perhaps this girl could serve as the consolation prize.

She certainly _tasted _delicious, her blood sickly sweet in IT's mouth. IT hadn't gotten her sister, but Annie would do just fine.

IT began to slink back towards the house, already changing shape once more.

IT had gotten a taste of her, and she would not escape in the end.

* * *

Eddie waited impatiently on his front steps, looking first up his street and then down, waiting for the familiar sight of Annie's hair glinting gold in the sunlight.

She always came from the right, but that didn't stop him from looking to the left expectantly. Annie was _late. _Eddie had expected her to be here by now and the fact that she wasn't filled him with dread. Had something happened?

The sound of a bike horn sounding off had him standing up just in time to see Annie round the corner. She was pedaling like hell like she couldn't outrun something fast enough and as she parked her bike on the sidewalk, Eddie saw that her leg was bleeding.

"_Annie?"_

He stepped down off of his porch and Annie moved towards him quickly, not saying anything as she threw her arms around him and buried her face into his shoulder. She nearly knocked him over with the abruptness of the hug.

And then she started to cry.

"_Annie, what happened? Are you okay?"_

Stupid question. She clearly wasn't.

Casting a glance over his shoulder to make sure his mother was not nosily peeking out the window, Eddie peeled her away from him so he could get a look at her face.

"Annie Bell?" He prompted which caused her to begin to cry harder.

Panicking, Eddie immediately pulled her back into a hug, shushing her gently, already beginning to suspect what she had done.

"You went to Neibolt?" He asked and though she said nothing, her slow nod was all the response he needed.

"Why would you do that?" He asked immediately. "After I told you I saw something, you what… decided to go and check? _Why _would you do that, Annie?"

She pulled back, worrying her lip between her teeth. "I just… after what happened with the shark, I needed to see."

Eddie frowned at her, glancing down at her bleeding leg, before sighing heavily and pulling her up to sit on the porch. He leaned down to examine her leg, brushing the wound gently. Two years ago the sight of blood would have turned his stomach but now he powered through because Annie needed him and there was nobody else for her to turn to.

The wound had mostly stopped bleeding, but Eddie had no idea what could have caused it in the first place.

"I'm going to go get some bandages," he told her, standing quickly before hurrying inside.

His mother sat in her chair in the living room, watching television, but looked up when Eddie walked in.

"What's wrong, Eddie Bear?" She asked.

He shook his head, already edging down the hall. "Just have to go to the bathroom," he said before taking off and shutting himself inside the bathroom, beginning to look into the medicine cabinet and under the sink, pulling out a roll of gauze bandages, antiseptic, and a box of gauze pads. He stuffed these things into his fanny pack before flushing the toilet and letting the water run in the sink for a moment, so his mother would believe his lie, before stepping out again and hurrying back towards the front door.

"Are you leaving again?" His mother asked.

He hesitated, knowing she would ask for a kiss, but he didn't want to leave Annie waiting any longer. She had been _crying _for God's sake and was obviously terrified.

"Yes Mommy," he said, moving towards her immediately and pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before she could even ask. "Love you!"

And then he was gone, hurrying back outside to find Annie exactly where he had left her, her legs pulled up to her chest and her knees tucked beneath her chin, almost like a shield.

He sat down across from her and began to rifle through his fanny pack to pull out the supplies he had just retrieved. "Let me see," he told her and she slowly stuck her leg out towards him.

"What did you see?" Annie asked quietly.

Eddie furrowed his brow, taking a moment to focus on bandaging her wound but also trying to gather his words. The day before, when he had called her, he had been in much the same state as she was now, though he had escaped without a wound. He had gotten home and the _only _thing he had wanted was to talk to his best friend, but she had still been with Beverly.

When she had called back, he had felt a deep sense of relief. Just being able to _tell _someone that he had seen something made the whole thing less scary. He had promised to tell her _what _he had seen this morning when he could be sure that his mother wouldn't eavesdrop.

"A man," he began, dampening a gauze pad with the antiseptic and beginning to clean the wound. Annie flinched, starting to move away, but Eddie grabbed her ankle, holding her still. "A leper. He was _disgusting _Annie. All covered in wounds and sores and pus and shit. He was the grossest thing I have ever seen. I was so sure that if he touched me then I would get sick too. He chased me into the yard of _that _house and when I looked back… " He paused, knowing this next bit sounded crazy. Not that the rest of it didn't though.

"When you looked back… what?" Annie prompted, watching his face carefully with those big blue eyes of hers. "A clown?"

He looked up sharply. "How did you know?"

Stupid question. There was only _one _way that she would have known that, and that was if she had seen the same thing herself.

"I saw the clown only… he didn't start out as a clown," she shook her head slowly, disbelievingly. "It was a giant _spider _Eddie, and it _bit _me."

So that explained the wound. Wincing slightly, Eddie began to wrap the bandage carefully around her leg. It had _bit _her? First the shark, then the leper, then the spider. How did this make any sense?

"He… knew about Amy," Annie said suddenly. "He told me… he told me he would say hello to her. What does that _mean, _Eddie?"

Amy was a touchy subject for Annie and had been for as long as he had known her. For the most part, Eddie could breach the subject without any fear of repercussions, but nobody else was afforded the same privilege.

Amy had died the October before, within a week of Georgie Denbrough's disappearance, finally succumbing to the cancer that had plagued her body since she was very small. The chemotherapy had stopped working and, though her family had known for weeks that the end was coming, it hadn't made it any easier.

Eddie knew that Annie was still dealing with the aftershocks of Amy's death, knew that her mom spent most of her time sleeping these days and that her dad spent most of his time working and that Annie spent most of her time when she was at home alone. But in those days following Amy's death, Annie had spent her time down in the Barrens, crying while Eddie did his best to comfort her.

He and their friends had dutifully split up their attention, with Eddie comforting Annie and Richie comforting Bill and Stan dividing his time between the two. She hadn't spoken much about Amy since that time, quietly allowing Bill's grief and anger over Georgie's disappearance to overcome her grief over her poor, dead sister.

The difference, she had told Eddie once, was that Bill believed they could find Georgie, but Annie knew that Amy was gone.

"How would he know about Amy?" Eddie asked, staring at her.

She shook her head quickly, looking like she might cry again.

"Eddie," She sounded very small when she spoke his name. "I'm scared." She reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze.

Eddie was scared too. Annie seeing the clown confirmed that it wasn't just a figment of Eddie's imagination. It meant that everything that had happened the day before wasn't _just _in his head. He squeezed her hand back.

"I think… I think Beverly saw something too," Annie continued.

It was hard to describe the feeling that began to curdle in Eddie's belly then. It had been _Beverly _that Annie had left with the afternoon before and _Beverly _had apparently confided in Annie that she had seen something. Probably, the two of them had more in common than Annie and Eddie did. They were both _girls _and Eddie suspected that went a long way towards making their newfound friendship.

Eddie didn't mind so much that Annie had a crush on Bill instead of him, he almost expected it. But the thought of somebody else taking his spot as her best friend made him feel as if he might be sick.

"When did she tell you this?" Eddie asked carefully, hiding any resentment he might feel.

"She called me this morning before I left. I told her we'd go by her house around noon."

Eddie nodded and stood. "We'd better go get the others then," he said.

Annie hesitated, biting her lip again like she always did when she got nervous. "I don't… I don't want to tell the others," she said. "What if they don't believe us?"

Eddie stared at her for a moment, debating. On the one hand, it felt wrong to keep this from their friends, but on the other, he knew exactly where she was coming from. The thought of telling the others about the shark or the leper or the spider or the clown and having Richie laugh in their faces was enough to have him nodding.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, okay."

* * *

"So what was it that she said again?" Richie asked as the group pedaled towards the apartment building where Bev lived with her father.

Annie rolled her eyes, exchanging an exasperated look with Stan. She got along with Richie, she _loved _Richie just like she loved all of her friends, but there were times when he could drive you absolutely batshit.

Of all of her friends Annie, of course, got along best with Eddie but besides Eddie, she probably got along best with Stan. There was just something about his quiet manner of thoughtfulness that made him easy to hang around.

She got along well with Richie too, she supposed, if you didn't count all of their teasing and bickering, and she, of course, got along with Bill.

The new additions of Bev and Ben into their group were a bit jarring, most because Annie was not sure how she would get along with either, though if the previous afternoon was any indication she and Beverly would get on just fine.

Ben was a bit harder to predict though. He was even quieter than Stan and kept to himself more. Annie suspected it would be pretty hard to get him out of his shell.

"_I told you_, Richie," Annie said impatiently," she just said she wanted to show us something."

"She didn't t-tell you _what _she w-wa-wanted to show us?" Bill asked.

"Is it more than what the two of you showed us at the quarry?" Richie asked, sounding surprised as Annie felt her face heat up.

"Shut up! Just shut up, Richie!" Stan snapped as they turned their bikes and pulled up alongside the apartment building.

Bev was already waiting for them outside, sitting on the fire escape and smoking a cigarette. When she saw them she immediately stood and began to climb down to greet them.

"You came," she said, sounding relieved. She looked them all over before glancing uncertainly up at the apartment. "My dad will kill me if he finds out that I had boys in the apartment," she explained, wringing the hem of her shirt between her hands nervously.

"W-w-w-w-we'll leave a lookout," Bill said, already starting towards the apartment. "Now Richie, just stay here," he barely spared a glance at the other boy. The others began to follow after him, except for Richie who sat on his bike and stared after them.

"Woah, woah, woah, what if her dad comes back?" He called.

Stan paused, turning to look at their friend. "Do what you always do," he replied. "Start talking."

"It is a gift," Richie called back weakly.

As they climbed the fire-escape, Annie and Stan exchanged amused smiles, knowing Richie wouldn't take it too personally.

There was a worried look in Stan's eye and part of Annie suspected that he knew that something was going on with her, though also knew that he likely didn't know to what extent. He wouldn't ask, she knew. Stan was more the type to wait for somebody to come to him with a problem, probably thinking that he was being nosy otherwise.

Annie appreciated that about him.

She climbed in through the window after Eddie, looking around at what she correctly assumed to be Bev's living room.

It was decorated pretty sparsely, not a whole lot of pictures on the wall or anything. Actually, the whole room came off as pretty depressing.

Like she had with Ben's father, Annie suspected that Bev's mother was not in the picture, though knew better than to ask. That would probably seem rude, and Annie had been brought up better than that. So instead she kept her mouth shut, following after the others as Bev led them down the hallway, towards what Annie assumed must be the bathroom.

As they approached, a feeling of dread rose up from her stomach into her chest and then into her throat. In front of her, Eddie paused, turning to give Annie a panicked look. He was likely having the same misgivings that she was.

Bev had sounded so grave on the phone that morning and now… Annie thought that she probably didn't want to see what Bev had to show them at all.

"In there… " Bev tilted her head towards the door and for the first time, Annie noticed there was a strange reddish light shining from beyond.

"What is it?" Bill asked.

"You'll see."

"Great," Eddie began, taking a deep breath, "bringing us to the bathroom. You know that 89% of the worst accidents occur in the bathroom and kitchen. And that's where all the bacteria and fungi are… and it is not a hygienic place… "

Annie stepped forward, grabbing his hand in her's. He trailed off, his other hand automatically twitching towards his fanny back, just in case his asthma kicked up and he needed his inhaler. He was a ball of nervous energy right now, Annie knew because she herself was a ball of nervous energy. The only difference was that when Eddie got too nervous, the feeling was also accompanied by an asthma attack.

Slowly, Bill reached forward to push open the bathroom door and it swung forward with an ominous creak.

The red glow had not been caused by a red light, Annie realized immediately, but rather the existing light reflecting off all of the blood.

It covered every available surface, thick and crimson and congealed, and the whole room stank unmistakably of it. Annie's stomach turned dangerously, and for a split second, she was certain she was going to be sick.

"I knew it!" Eddie exclaimed, paling slightly. His grip on Annie's hand tightened.

"Do you see it?" Bev asked nervously, looking at them one by one.

She was met with expressions of mixed shock, horror, and disgust.

Bill nodded slowly, stepping past her. "Yes. What happened in here?"

Bev swallowed, following after him, leaving the others standing out in the hall, staring at the room with disdain.

"My dad couldn't see it, I thought that I might be crazy."

Annie and Eddie glanced at each other, exchanging meaningful looks. Things just kept getting stranger and stranger. And yet, they both kept their mouths shut. Blood in a bathroom and seeing the things they saw were not exactly the same, and they were both still hesitant to bring it up.

"Well if you're crazy," Stan began, "then we're all crazy."

"We c-c-c-can't leave it like this," Bill told the others determinedly.

Annie grimaced. That was just like Bill, to volunteer them for something that none of them were exactly happy to partake it.

From beside her, Eddie was fumbling for his inhaler and Annie felt her stomach flip at the idea of stepping foot inside that bathroom. There was _so much blood. _Part of her, a rather large part, wanted to turn tail and run.

_Sorry Bev, no bloody bathrooms for me today, thanks. _

"I'll call the cleaning lady," Annie offered, earning a weak round of laughter from her friends. Even Eddie, who looked like he might throw up at any second fave a light chuckle, and with a deep breath, Annie steeled herself with a new resolve.

"Where do you keep your cleaning supplies, Bev?" She asked with a heavy sigh.

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**_** A little later than I've generally been trying to post them but I literally forgot it was Thursday until like 11:30 last night and then I had to edit the chapter but yeah, here it is! I appreciate the reviews and follows/favorites this story has gotten and would love if you guys left more! If you're interested in seeing any of the edits I've made for this story or anything that has been made for me, you can head over to my Tumblr harleyquinnzelz . tumblr . com! See you guys next week!**


	7. The Rock War of '89

_**The Rock War of '89**_

It had been two days before Amy had passed that she told Annie about the clown.

Annie had taken to stopping by after school, often accompanied by Eddie or one of the others but since Georgie's disappearance, they had taken to keeping Bill company at the Denbrough residence. Whenever Annie showed up, her parents would head down to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat or a cup of coffee or something, leaving Annie to sit with Amy.

Though she was ashamed to admit it, Annie _hated _sitting up at the hospital. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with Amy, but the whole place made her skin crawl.

It was so _sterile _for one thing, so white and clean and impersonal. And then the _smell_, something like cleaning supplies and medicine with the subtle, yet unmistakable scent of piss beneath it all.

That wasn't even mentioning how Amy looked, lying there in a too-big bed. Amy had always been small but in that bed, she looked _tiny_ and lying there like that with all the tubes coming out of her she looked distinctly alien.

She didn't _look _like her sister anymore, but something else and so, each time Annie had stopped by after school, she had hesitated in the doorway, peering in at Amy who would always smile at her big sister. Annie had loved Amy, of course, she had but Amy had _adored _Annie.

Just like always, her parents would stand up from the seats beside the bed and head towards the door, with Shirley Jackson telling her daughter to keep an eye on her sister as if Amy was not hooked up to a million and one machines that ensured that she _didn't _have to keep an eye on her.

Still, just like always, Annie nodded and stepped further into the room, though what she really wanted was to ride over to Bill's house, to be with her friends. She hadn't told the others yet, except for Eddie, that Annie was dying and so they remained blissfully unaware.

For now, it was Annie's burden to carry alone.

She stepped further into the room, pulling out her sketchbook as she approached the bed. "I brought my drawings," she told Amy who loved to look through the sketchbook, even if she had seen the drawings contained within a million times before.

She expected Amy to reached expectantly for it but when she didn't, Annie paused, looking strangely at her sister who had a serene little smile on her face.

"There was a clown last night," she said softly.

Annie blinked. _"What?" _

She supposed it was possible that the hospital had brought in a clown to entertain the kids in the children's ward but her mother had been up at the hospital until ten o'clock and hadn't mentioned anything about a clown. So had it been after that? That was stupid. All the kids would have been asleep.

The next and most logical thought was that Amy had dreamed it. _Of course _she had. She had had stranger dreams then that before.

"No there wasn't, Amy," Annie shook her head, sliding her sketchbook back into her bag. "It was just a dream."

"It wasn't!" Amy insisted! "He was outside the window! He offered me a balloon and asked if I wanted to float. I told him I did but I was _so tired. _I fell asleep but when I woke up, he was gone."

Annie rolled her eyes, wandering over to peer out the window, humoring her little sister. "Sure," she said. "How do you think he got up here Amy? Did he use his balloons to-"

The sight of something bright and red resting on the ledge outside of the window had her peering closer, brow furrowed. A moment later she was able to determine that it was, in fact, a popped balloon.

_What the hell? _

"He looked real funny," Amy continued. "His eyes seemed kind of yellow at first but then when I looked again they were definitely blue. They reminded me of your eyes, Annie."

Annie scrunched her face up in confusion, turning to look at Amy who looked more excited than Annie had seen her look in a long time.

"Do you think he'll come back?" Amy asked. "I'd like to float!"

Still hoping that Amy was dreaming, but unable to deny the balloon she had seen outside, Annie shook her head. "Nah, he probably won't. You already fell asleep on him once, kiddo," she shrugged in a what-can-you-do kind of way. "But if he does, I think you'd better just tell him that your big sister said no. Tell him your big sister said you're not allowed to float _or _get a balloon. Because clowns are creepy and if anybody sees you talking to one, they'll make fun of you. You don't want anyone to make fun of you, do you?"

Amy shook her head quickly, eyes round as she took in the wisdom her older sister had just imparted unto her.

Annie thought that there _probably _had not been a clown and that it _definitely _had not been outside of Amy's window, but better safe than sorry. Even _if _she herself was being a little silly, it was definitely better to be safe than sorry.

Still, when her parents finally returned and Annie started to leave, she stopped by the front desk, smiling politely at the receptionist, who knew Annie by name by now.

"Amy says that there was a clown here last night," she said.

The receptionist giggled, shaking her head. "No," she said. "We didn't have a clown come by last night. She must have just been having a dream."

"That's what I thought," Annie shrugged, before turning to leave. "Thank you, Miss Dumont," she called back over her shoulder.

And that had been that. Annie hadn't put any thought into it and Amy had not mentioned it again. And then, two days later, she had died.

Annie hadn't really thought much about the clown that Amy had claimed to see since then. She had just… walked out of the hospital and forgotten all about it. And now…

_Shark. Leper. Spider. Blood. _

_Clown. _

"Annie?"

She blinked, turning in surprise to see that Stan had said her name. He was looking at her strangely, apparently having noticed she had about a million miles away. Annie offered him what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

The group was, as usual, headed towards the Barrens though Annie had just been automatically following the others. Now though it was Stan who brought her crashing back to the present.

He had methodically cleaned Bev's bathroom with the rest of them, keeping his mouth closed dutiful even though Annie knew that it must have bothered him in a far different way than the rest of them. Stan liked a certain order, didn't like for things to be out of place. Bathrooms were not _supposed _to be like that, all covered in a layer of congealed blood.

"You okay, Stan?" Annie asked.

He furrowed his brow, looking surprised. "I'm _fine. _Are you okay?"

She gave him that same reassuring smile again, but Stan did not look completely convinced.

"No, I love being your personal doorman," Richie said, circling around the group on his own bike. "Really could you idiots have taken any longer?"

He had, predictably, not believed a word that any of them had said about the bathroom, not even Bill, who Richie had looked at with a quirked brow.

"Shut up, Richie!" Stan snapped.

"Yeah, shut up, Richie," Eddie added.

None of them were in the mood for Richie's teasing today, it seemed.

"Oh okay," Richie rolled his eyes. "Trash the trash-mouth, I get it. Hey, I wasn't the one scrubbing the bathroom floor imagining that her sink went all Eddie's mom's vagina on Halloween."

Nobody laughed, but Richie didn't seem at all phased by this.

"Beep beep, Richie," Annie said dryly.

"She didn't imagine it," Bill said suddenly, stopping his bike. The others stopped as well and Bill turned to look at them, straightening up importantly. "I saw something too."

Annie and Eddie exchanged a long look, one that Bill seemed to notice, though he didn't say anything.

"You saw blood, too?" Bev asked.

Bill shook his head. "Not blood. I saw G-g-Georgie. It seemed so real, I mean it seemed like him but there was this… "

"Clown," Eddie said. Bill looked up at him in surprise.

"Annie and I saw him too."

Annie shrunk slightly as the others turned to look at her, her face beginning to heat up. Now, she guessed, was as good a time as any to come clean. At least they could be sure the others wouldn't think they were crazy. She bit her lip nervously, opening her mouth to say more but before she could, Richie spoke up again.

"Wait, can only virgins see this stuff? Is that why I'm not. Seeing this shit?"

Annie turned to fix him with a glare. "Believe me, Richie, you don't _want _to see it," she snapped. He seemed surprised but she turned away again, looking at the others. "Eddie saw the clown yesterday and I… I saw it this morning." Without meaning to, she glanced down at the bandaged leg. The others followed her gaze and she heard Beverly suck in a breath.

The meaning was clear, the clown, friendly as he may have looked on the outside, was clearly out to hurt them.

"Oh shit, that's Belch Huggins car," Richie said suddenly, looking past them.

Sure enough, parked on the side of the road was that familiar car, unmistakable due to the garish shade of blue. Annie and her friends had spent enough time _avoiding _that car to recognize it anywhere.

"W-we should probably get outta here," Bill's grip tightened on Silver's handlebars as if he was prepared to go riding off at the first sign of Henry or the others.

"Yes," Ben agreed. Ben was probably more scared of Henry and his friends than any of them, though this was pretty fair, Annie thought since Henry had tried to _carve his freaking name into Ben's stomach. _

"Wait," Bev blinked, looking past the car. "Isn't that the home-schooled kid's bike?"

Sure enough, lying past the car was a familiar bike, old-fashioned but still well-taken care of with the large package carrier on the back. Annie frowned, that now familiar feeling of dread seizing her heart. Ben may have been the most afraid of Henry and his friends, but Henry _definitely _hated Mike worse than any of the other kids in Derry.

Annie suspected it was because he had inherited too many tendencies from his racist father, who had never gotten over the fact that Mike's father had a more successful farm. Annie had heard about this from her own father who had spoken with Mr. Hanlon about it to some length. Mr. Hanlon no longer kept chickens because Butch Bowers had killed them all the one time he _had _attempted it, and Mr. Hanlon also suspected that Butch had killed Mike's old dog, Mr. Chips.

Since then, Annie had made sure to keep Ghost well away from the Bowers farm.

"Yeah," she said. "That's Mike's. We have to help him." She swung her leg over her bike, getting off and heading over to the bike, not even waiting for the others.

"We should?" Richie asked skeptically. The others were looking at her in surprise and Annie turned back, offering them a pleading look.

"Yes," she insisted. "Look, Mike is my friend and… and Henry _hates _Mike and if we don't help then something really bad could happen. _Please?" _She clasped her hands pleadingly over her chest, offering her friends what her father had always called her puppy eyes.

It was Eddie who climbed off his bike first, clenching his jaw and looking unsure, but Annie knew that he wouldn't let her go alone and for that, she was thankful. Bill and Bev were next, looking determined, while Richie rolled his eyes and climbed off his bike. Even Ben, looking scared, climbed off, leaving Stan as the last one sitting on his bike, looking rather pale.

Finally, he too began to follow, pausing only to kick out his bike stand, and Annie turned and plunged into the undergrowth of the Barrens. She heard the others crashing through the bracken and fronds behind her, but did not stop to look at them.

Even from here she could hear the water of the Kenduskeag bubbling merrily over the stones. That pleasant sound was contrasted by Henry and his friends yelling.

"_Come on! Take that! Take that, bitch!"_

"Annie," Eddie huffed from behind her. "Maybe we should go get an adult? If we all show up and try to help, won't Henry get pissed off? What if he tries to take his anger out on us? What if we make him _really _angry? What if-"

"It might be too late by the time we get an adult," Annie called back, trying to sound braver than she really felt. She told herself that scared as she was right now, Mike was definitely ten times _more _scared.

Annie definitely wasn't the type to lead an onslaught against Henry and his friends and yet here she was, bounding down into the barrens, her pretty pink sundress twitching prettily around her legs and her hair streaming out behind her, looking like gold in the sunlight.

She didn't realize it, but she seemed almost otherworldly then, like something _else, _her eyes fierce and determined, sparking like blue flames.

_Lioness. _

_It seemed,_ Eddie thought, _as if his friend was almost being driven forward by an unseen force._ He had never seen her like this.

She burst forth from the treeline, stopping by the Kenduskeag and glaring across the water at Henry and his friends.

Henry Bowers, Belch Huggins, and Victor Criss had gotten Mike Hanlon to the ground and were delivering swift hits and kicks to the boy, who had curled into a fetal position to protect his face and stomach.

_Smart move, _Annie thought and then, as if she were still being compelled by some other force, she reached down to grab a rock about the size of an apple and held it for a moment in her hand, mouth twisted into a scowl.

_"Hey, Henry!"  
_

He turned just as she threw the rock and with a satisfying _thwack _it hit him in the forehead, making him recoil and he looked at her, perplexed.

"_What the hell, you bitch!" _

Her friends had reached her by now, and Bill came skidding to a stop next to her, looking from Annie to Henry Bowers.

"Nice throw," he complimented.

"Thanks."

Henry straightened up to face them now, trying to look intimidating as his friends moved to flank him.

"What," he asked sweetly. "Decide your boyfriends aren't doing it for you anymore, Jackson. If you want some attention, all you have to do is ask."

Annie wrinkled her nose, looking disgusted. "I wouldn't touch you with a twenty-foot pole, Bowers." She was tense, prepared to run now that she had gotten his attention off of Mike who splashed through the water towards them.

"As if I'd _want _to touch you, you little slut!"

A second rock went sailing at Henry from behind Annie, hitting him on the shoulder and making the older boy cry out in pain. Annie turned to find Eddie, looking quite horrified by what he had done.

"_The fuck!"_

Eddie swallowed, clenching his jaw. "Shut the fuck up, Bowers!" He said, sounding much more confident than Annie suspected he actually felt.

Belch and Victor had seemingly had enough of this, and Belch quickly snatched up another rock from the water and threw it. Annie managed to duck just in time and heard the rock hit the ground behind her.

That was all the others needed though and both sides were suddenly scrambling to grab as many rocks as they could.

"_ROCK WAR!" _Richie yelled before promptly getting hit in the forehead by one of the rocks.

There was no aiming, no sense of strategy, just rocks sailing back and forth, many of which fell _just _short and landed with a _plop _in the water.

A rock hit Annie's cheek, cutting it, but she didn't pay much mind as she crouched down, grabbing more rocks and chunking them one after the other at Henry and his friends, managing to hit their stomachs and legs.

Mike scrambled behind them, panting hard, bleeding from a split lip, but made no room to pick up any rocks himself. Annie couldn't blame him.

From her right, she heard Eddie's cry of pain and knew her friend had been hit. She chanced a glance at him just as another projectile whistled past her ear. Eddie may have been hit, but that wasn't stopping him from grabbing rock after rock and hurling them at Henry.

They were overwhelming the group, Annie realized. There were just too many of them and finally, with similar looks of disdain, Belch and Vic turned to flee, leaving Annie and her friends only one target to aim at.

And aim they did, finally managing to get Henry on the ground, curled up in a fetal position like Mike had been in only minutes before.

And then, just like that, the explosive rock war was over, leaving Annie and her friends wound up as Henry peered at them through his arms which he had been using to shield his face.

Giving Henry one last disgusted look, Annie turned to leave, ushering Mike back the way they had come. The others all began to follow behind.

"_Go to the hell, losers!" _She heard Henry call after them.

"_GO BLOW YOUR DAD, YOU MULLET-WEARING ASSHOLE!" _Came Richie's snarky reply and Annie couldn't help but smirk slightly.

"You okay, Mike?" Annie asked.

Her friend nodded, reaching up to brush his fingers tenderly against his split lip. "Yeah. I thought I was a goner. You guys surprised the hell out of me."

"Surprised Henry too, I think," Annie said with a shrug.

"Annie, you're bleeding!"

She blinked, turning to look at Eddie who was observing a fresh cut on her cheek. Annie reached up to touch it and sure enough, fresh blood was welling up in the wound.

"Twice in one day," Eddie said, shaking his head. "You're being way too reckless today. You scared the hell out of me."

"You were totally badass," Bev told her, nudging Annie slightly. "Bowers and his goons didn't even know what to do."

"Very c-cool," Bill added. Annie beamed under his praise.

And then, with that, they turned and continued on their way.

"Thanks, guys," Mike said. "But you shouldn't have done that. He'll be after you guys too now."

"Ah, Bowers," Eddie shrugged. "He's always after us."

"Yeah," Annie agreed. "It's almost like he's a bully or something."

"I guess that's one th-th-thing we all have in common," Bill said.

Richie smirked. "Yeah man, welcome to the loser's club!"

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_** Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this story! I really do appreciate it guys! Please keep it up! I really want to know what you guys think!**


	8. Canal Days

_**Canal Days**_

The Canal Days Festival was an integral part of summer for every kid growing up in Derry.

It ran for one week, each year, and invoked all manners of celebration. The fair always started first, kicking off the celebration, but most of the adults believed that it was the parade that really kicked off the festival.

The Derry highschool Marching Band would walk down Main Street, blowing their instruments and leading the way for floats that were ridden by the likes of the Derry's Ladies Society and the high school cheerleading team.

This year was a particularly important year as it marked the centennial anniversary of the canal fully opening a hundred years prior. They had gone full out this year, patching up potholes and cleaning up the worst of the graffiti down in Bassey Park. Town buildings were refurbished and repainted and a temporary museum had even been installed in several empty storefronts in downtown Derry.

The adults had truly gone all out, but all the kids agreed that the best part of Canal Days was the fairgrounds where there were all kinds of rides and prize booths and food stands set up. Though the fair would remain in Derry for the full week, every kid in town wanted to go that first night when everything was fresh and new and exciting.

Annie and her friends were no exception. They had tentatively planned to meet at the Ferris Wheel though that depended on whether their parents let them go or not. The curfew had seemingly been forgotten for the week, but everyone was pretty much of the belief that nobody would dare try anything at the Festival with so many cops hanging around, keeping an eye on everything.

At half-past six on the doubt, Annie knocked on the Hanlon's front door, beaming up at Jessica Hanlon when she opened it. Ten minutes later, she and Mike were climbing up onto the bed of Will Hanlon's pickup truck while Mike's parents climbed into the cab of the truck and off they went, heading towards the fair.

Will Hanlon had ushered the two off, telling them to meet back at the gates at nine on the dot and off they went, heading towards the Ferris Wheel which, as usual, was set up in a position to offer a killer view of the Kenduskeag and down into the Barrens.

They passed the tilt-a-whirl and Annie rose up onto her toes, trying in vain to see if their friends were waiting for them.

"Are they there?" Mike asked.

Annie pursed her lips. "I can't tell," she admitted. "I can't _see._"

She glanced at Mike who looked equal parts excited and nervous. He had confided in Annie when they had ridden home together the day before that he was more than just a little excited to find himself getting included in Annie's group of friends. He had always been a little jealous, he had told her because he didn't have any very good friends himself.

He _hated _being homeschooled, Mike had told her, because he had always felt like there was some invisible line dividing him from the other kids of Derry. Annie had gently told Mike that he had always been welcome to hang out with her and her friends.

He hadn't had much of a response to that but the important thing, Annie had told him, was that he was part of their group now.

The group had spent most of their afternoon down in the Barrens, determinedly _not _talking about the thing that was bothering them all. It was like a switch had been flipped the day before, they had talked about it and had gotten good and scared, and now they would ignore it until something else bad happened.

The town of Derry, Annie had learned, was good at ignoring the bad things happening in their midst.

It couldn't last for long, Annie thought, because there was a profound sense that _whatever _was going on, it wasn't done yet.

_Don't think about it, _she thought as she and Mike drew closer to the base of the Ferris wheel to see their friends already waiting for them. _Tonight is about having fun. _

It seemed that the others were of the same belief because as they approached, Richie turned to face them, grinning widely.

"Boat ride?" He asked eagerly.

The boat ride in question had been part of the Canal Days Festival for as long as any of them could remember, and even before that probably. The adults and teenagers called in a tunnel of love but it was too dark and creepy for Annie to really consider it romantic. She knew that older kids liked to get on the boats and make out for the duration of the ride.

Annie frowned slightly, looking towards the ride unsurely, not sure if she was really all that excited for a scary ride. But Richie loved scary things and so she shrugged slightly.

"Sure," she said. The others had seemingly already agreed because they hurried over to the ticket booth, led by Bill.

"Wanna ride with me?" Eddie asked Annie as if it were even a question. Still, she beamed and nodded.

Richie, Annie noticed, had opened his mouth as if to ask Eddie something but now, instead, turned to Stan. "Wanna go together?" He asked. Stan shrugged, apparently about as excited to go on the boat ride as Annie was.

She really preferred the Ferris wheel, but that was better later at night when the stars were glittering in the sky and the moon was gleaming and you really got the best view.

They got in line for the ride, automatically pairing off. Predictably, Bill and Bev stood next to each other, their intentions clear. Annie pursed her lips as she observed this, thinking she should probably feel annoyed or jealous. Still, she couldn't work up any resentment towards either of them, if Bill didn't like her that's just the way it was, he was still one of her best friends. And as for Beverly… well, it wasn't like she _knew _about Annie's crush and anyway… Annie was really in no position to blame Bev for liking Bill.

Mike offered a friendly smile to Ben, tilting his head questioningly towards the ride. Ben smiled and nodded.

A minute later they were each climbing into their separate boats, Annie eyeing the dark tunnel ahead critically. "Why does Richie always want to ride this stupid thing?" She asked as Eddie settled in next to her. He snorted.

"Why does Richie do anything?"

With a jerking movement, the boats started forward, one moving after the other, slowly heading towards the dark tunnel. Annie automatically reached out to grab Eddie's hand, squeezing it gently. In the darkness, she couldn't see his face but was reassured when he gave her hand a responding squeeze.

She thought, inexplicably, of the shark and glanced over the side of the boat, though they were in the tunnel now and she couldn't see anything.

From up ahead, she heard a creepy giggle echo and then a familiar voice say, _"Ooooo it's the clown, coming to get ya!" _

Annie rolled her eyes. "Beep beep, Richie!" She called in response though she did shift closer to Eddie. What if the clown was in here, waiting for the boats to pass him by so he could pick off each of the kids as he pleased.

"I hate it in here," Eddie breathed. "It's so dark and creepy and _smelly._"

"Tilt-a-whirl next," Annie whispered back. "We'll do the tilt-a-whirl next."

She sat tensely, expecting that damned clown to jump out at any moment, but he never did, and finally, they were emerging once again into the bright lights and loud sounds of the fair. Annie couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Annie and Eddie climbed out of the boat, meeting back up with the others and just like that, they were off to find the next ride, running through the crowd after each other, basking in the feeling of being kids. It was nice, being able to do this. Nice to not be worried about something bad happening. Even when they saw Henry Bowers and his friends, the group only turned and went the other way, not wanting to get drawn into a confrontation with the older boys.

* * *

Eddie didn't normally try his hand at fair games, mostly because he wasn't any good at them. He could never hit targets, and his friends always seemed to give him more shit the more he missed. But he had seen Annie eyeing a stuffed pink rabbit longingly and it was the thought of handing it to her and seeing that wide, toothy smile on her face and before he had known it he was slapping money down on the counter and being handed three metal rings by the booth attendant.

Stan and Richie stood by observing as Eddie tried, and failed, to get the ring around the rims of the bottles, brow furrowed in his concentration.

"Dude," Richie began, "could you _be _more obvious?"

"Shut up, Richie!" Eddie snapped back, aiming the ring again.

Admittedly, he had never been subtle about his crush on Annie but she hadn't realized it, and he knew his friends would never tell her and that's what counted.

"You almost got it that time," Stan offered helpfully after _another _ring skittered uselessly over the top of the bottles.

Eddie huffed, digging out _more _money and placing it on the counter.

"You're never gonna get it, man," Richie said. "And anyway, why would you want to win a girl some stupid rabbit. You could try to get something cool!"

Eddie turned to fix Richie with a withering glare, one that didn't seem to really phase his bespectacled friend. "I just think Annie would really like it is all," he defended.

"Sure," Richie shrugged. "But she would rather Bill give it to her."

Eddie glowered at his friends but was unable to deny that this was probably true and so instead turned back to the game, accepting the rings again and taking a deep breath. He was determined to prove Richie wrong and show that Annie would like the rabbit just as much coming from him.

She had wandered off down to the food stands with the others. Ben had wanted to get some snacks and Annie had said that she was craving funnel cake. If Eddie wanted to surprise her, he had to do it soon.

He tossed the first ring, holding his breath as it flew through the air, catching around the mouth of a bottle and spiraling down before finally resting around its neck. Taking a moment to wipe his sweaty hands off on his shorts, Eddie tossed the second one, recoiling in surprise as it too landed around the neck of a bottle.

_One more, _he thought, just as a familiar laugh reached his ears. He glanced over his shoulder to find that the others were making their way back, Annie laughing at something Mike had said. She had the funnel cake and two drinks balanced carefully in her arms. As he watched, Bill said something, earning another laugh from Annie.

_Right now, _he thought. _You have about five seconds before they get back. _He turned back to the game and gave the ring a toss. It sailed through the air and then finally slid down around the neck of a third bottle.

"_Yes!" _Eddie cheered, turning to give Richie a victorious smile while Stan clapped him on the back.

Turning back to the booth attendant, he pointed up at the pink rabbit. The man smiled as he turned to pull it down before offering it to Eddie.

"Hey!" Annie said brightly as they approached, "I got us some funnel cake to share! Did you win anything?"

He turned to face her, feeling his cheeks heat up as he held the rabbit out to her. Annie blinked, looking from the rabbit to Eddie and then back before she offered him that bright, toothy smile he had been hoping for.

"Did you win that for me?" She asked.

Richie scoffed, and from the corner of his eye, Eddie saw his friend make a face at Stan who smiled slightly. Eddie paid them no mind and only nodded at Annie who offered Eddie one of the drinks in exchange for the rabbit which she took and hugged close to her chest.

"I love it!" She told Eddie, who suddenly felt very warm.

_She loved it. _He couldn't help but wonder if she would have told Bill the same thing if he had won it for her.

Eddie ducked his head, taking a long drink of the Pepsi that Annie had gotten for him, wanting to hide the fact that he was about as red as a tomato. Beside him, Richie sniggered.

"Smooth, man," he whispered.

* * *

The next day, with the smells of the fair drifting all throughout town and the sound of the parade echoing through downtown Derry, the self-proclaimed losers met in the same alleyway that they had tended to Ben's wound in just days before.

Unlike the night before, the mood today was somber, to say the least. The news of Eddie Corcoran's disappearance had been released to the public that morning. According to his mother and step-father, he hadn't been home for three days. Nobody was surprised that it had taken them so long to say anything.

The year prior, Edward Corcoran's three-year-old brother Dorsey had come up dead, had fallen off a ladder in the garage, their father had said. Annie wasn't sure how much she believed this considering Corcoran had often shown up to classes with large bruises. He often missed classes as well, and though Annie never asked, she suspected the two things were connected.

_Better this Eddie than _my _Eddie, _Annie thought before instantly feeling bad. Still, it didn't make the thought any less true. It didn't mean that she had wanted anything bad to happen to Corcoran but Annie really didn't think she could live with it if anything bad happened to Eddie.

"They said they found part of his hand all chewed up near the standpipe," Stan peered up at the fresh 'Missing Person' flyer of Corcoran that had been stuck up atop a stack of older flyers that morning.

"He asked to borrow a pencil once," Ben said glumly. He hadn't really known Corcoran, Annie gathered, but his heart was in the right place.

With a frown, Bill lifted Corcoran's flyer, looking through all the ones beneath. Patrick, Betty, Cheryl, Veronica… there were so many now, kids that they had _known. _

"It's like they've been f-f-f-forgotten because Corcoran's missing," Bill mused.

"Is it ever gonna end?" Bev asked, the question sounding mostly rhetorical.

_"What the fuck, dude?"_

Annie turned to see that Richie had somehow gotten hold of a trumpet belonging to one of the marching band members. The teenager was trying to take it back but Richie was reluctant, holding tight. Finally, the teenager wrangled his trumpet back and turned to walk away.

Finally, Richie turned to return to the group, just as Eddie came around the corner holding three ice cream cones. He handed one of the vanillas to Richie, and the single strawberry cone to Annie. She gave him a small smile in response. Annie hadn't asked for the ice cream, but Eddie knew her well enough to know that strawberry was her favorite.

"What are you guys talking about?" Eddie asked, looking back up at the others.

"What they always talk about," Richie rolled his eyes. He still was not convinced that anything out of the ordinary was going on.

"I actually think it will end," Ben spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. He blushed slightly once all eyes were on him. "For a little while, at least."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked.

Ben took a deep breath. "So I was going over all of my research and I charted out all of the big events. The Ironworks explosion in 1908. The Bradley Gang in '35 and The Black Spot in '62. And now the kids being… I realized that this stuff seems to happen every twenty-seven years."

Annie bit her lip, glancing at Eddie who looked back at her, a nervous look on his face as well. Annie knew some bad things had happened in Derry, had heard enough stories shared between kids her age to vaguely know about them… but for them to happen every twenty-seven years… it was strange, to say the least.

And yet… it sounded right. Felt right. This whole summer so far had taken on a surreal feeling. _Something _was different.

"Okay," Richie said minutes later when they had made the walk over to Bassey park and sat down around one of the benches. "So let me get this straight. _IT_ comes out from wherever to eat kids for like a year

and then what? IT just goes into hibernation?" He sounded skeptical like this whole thing was a joke. The others were taking it much more seriously.

"Maybe it's like… What do you call them?" Stan was quiet for a moment, searching for a word. "_Cicadas! _You know, the bugs that come out once every 17 years."

"My dad thinks there's something wrong with this town," Mike began somberly. "He says that all the bad things that happened in this town are because of one thing. An evil thing that feeds off the people of Derry."

Annie looked at her friend in surprise. She knew Mr. Hanlon had not been born in Derry, but somewhere down in Georgia. Will Hanlon had been stationed in Derry while he was in the military, had even been inside the Black Spot the night it had burned. When he had gotten out of the military he had chosen to return with his young wife. If he believed something bad had happened in Derry, why would he choose to come back?

"But it can't be one thing," Stan said. "We all saw different things."

"I think… " Annie sucked in a breath, feeling suddenly nervous as the others turned to look at her. She had thought a lot about this. "I think maybe it changes… takes different forms. Whatever scares us most." Just thinking about it had her shaking.

"That explains both things you saw," Eddie told her. Annie nodded.

"Right," she said. "The shark _and _the spider."

"I-I saw a leper," Eddie looked at the others, a deep frown on his face. "He was like a walking infection."

"But you didn't," Stan insisted. "Because IT isn't real."

"It is," Annie replied immediately. Stan looked at her in surprise as Annie gestured down to the bandage still wrapped around her leg. "The spider _bit _me. That definitely _felt _real."

She didn't want to mention the other idea she had been turning over in her head, that IT was eating the missing kids. Not when Bill's brother was one of the missing kids.

"No," Stan shook his head. "It can't be real. None of this is. Not your shark or spider or Eddie's leper or Bill seeing Georgie or the woman I keep seeing."

"Is she hot?" Richie asked immediately.

Stan stared at him incredulously. "No. Richie," he snapped. "She's not hot. Her face is all messed up!"

"None of this makes any sense," Bev buried her face into her hands. "They're all like bad dreams."

"I don't think so," Mike shook his head. "I know the difference between a bad dream and real life, okay?"

"What did you see?" Annie asked him gently.

Mike looked at her for a moment, seeming reluctant, but Annie offered him a gentle smile and Mike sighed. "It's stupid," he told them.

"It's not," she replied immediately.

"Okay," he still seemed reluctant but it seemed he had realized that he wouldn't be able to get out of this. "Earlier in the year me and my dad were watching tv and this really old movie came on… _Rodan _and-"

"I've seen that!" Richie exclaimed.

Bill shushed him before gesturing for Mike to continue.

"Well… this bird monster thing really freaked me out and… I was down where the Ironworks used to be and I saw this giant bird. It didn't _look _like Rodan, but it _felt _like Rodan and it… it tried to get me."

"What?" Richie scoffed. "You're scared of that stupid looking bird thing?" He laughed, but nobody else seemed to find it very amusing.

"It's not funny, Richie," Annie snapped. "You made me watch that stupid shark movie with you guys and I was nearly eaten by a shark! Just because _you _haven't seen anything-"

"Alright, alright," Richie held his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry, okay. I didn't know it was such a big deal."

But it was a big deal. They were all clearly terrified, and here Richie was, acting as if nothing had happened.

"We're all afraid of something," Eddie said softly.

This seemed to sober Richie up slightly. Their friend winced slightly and nodded. "Got that right."

The others turned to look at him in surprise.

"Why Rich?" Eddie asked. "What are you afraid of?"

Richie was quiet for a moment, before slowly turning to look over his shoulder. "Clowns," he said.

The others followed his gaze to the bandstand, which a group of kids had crowded around, all clamoring for attention from the clown on stage. As they watched, the clown seemed to lock eyes with them before reaching out, seemingly offering them a balloon animal.

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**_** Here's hoping you guys enjoyed this chapter! As always, let me know what you think because I love hearing your thoughts! I'm really thankful for everyone who had followed and reviewed this story, it always brings a smile to my face. As for the update next week, considering it is the day after Christmas, there _may _not be an update (I will definitely still try to get it out) but if there isn't then I will resume updating the following Thursday! Thanks in advance for understanding guys!**


	9. Play With Fire

_**Play With Fire**_

Annie woke up the next morning to the smell of pancakes. This was unusual only in the fact that her mother was the only one who ever made pancakes, and she hadn't even done that since before Amy went into the hospital for the last time.

Annie turned over in bed, taking a moment to process what it was she was smelling, before sitting upright, brow furrowed. The sound of movement downstairs confirmed that someone was, in fact, awake and moving around down there and that Annie had not imagined the smell.

Already, she felt a strange feeling of unease brimming in her chest. Her mother had not spent much time out of her bedroom as of late and her presence in the kitchen suggested a sudden change to the status quo that had settled into the Jackson house over the last few months.

Reluctantly, Annie pulled herself from the bed, waking up Ghost who was sleeping at the foot, as usual. He raised his head, tail thumping against Annie's quilt but watched as she moved through her room, getting dressed quickly in her favorite pink sundress. She was partial to this one because Amy had picked it out for her the last time they had gone shopping with their mother. Annie considered it her lucky dress and she figured she could use a little luck, considering everything that was going on.

When Annie finally headed towards her bedroom door, Ghost leaped off the bed, bounding after her down the hallway and downstairs where Annie opened the front door to let him out into the yard.

_Lucky guy, _Annie thought as she watched him go. He got to escape outside while Annie had to go into the kitchen to deal with whatever was going on in there.

The smell of coffee had joined the smell of pancakes now and from the front hall, Annie could hear the sound of her mother and father talking. They sounded upset about something.

Maybe she didn't have to go in there. Maybe she could just go outside and head over to Eddie's before either of her parents realized she was awake.

"_Annie?"_

Her mother poked her head out from the kitchen and saw her daughter standing there in the front hall, eyeing the kitchen with some skepticism.

Okay, so maybe not.

"I made breakfast," her mother said, gesturing Annie down the hall. "Your favorite! Chocolate chip pancakes."

Those had always been _Amy's _favorite. Annie herself was much more partial to strawberry pancakes. Still, her mother was offering Annie the kind of smile that she had not seen in a long time and Annie just didn't have it in her to refuse. So, she walked down the hallway, entering the kitchen to find her father sitting at the table, looking at the paper and drinking his coffee. For once, the kitchen television was not on.

Annie sat down and her mother made a big show of pouring Annie a large glass of milk before placing it in front of her. Then she grabbed the platter upon which she had stacked the pancakes and brought them over, along with the syrup and butter.

With that, she sat down in her own seat and began to prepare her breakfast, buttering pancakes and pouring syrup on top. Meanwhile, Annie sent her father a questioning look. He seemed angry, and Annie wondered if her mother had anything to do with it.

"Eat!" Her mother advised, her tone forcefully bright and chipper.

Annie watched her mother suspiciously for a moment before taking a pancake of her own and adding the butter and syrup. She imagined, suddenly, that this is how Hansel or Gretel must have felt when the evil witch was offering them all types of sweets to fatten them up and to get her to trust them. And if she was one of the kids then that made her mother the evil witch.

This comparison didn't do much in the way of putting Annie's mind at ease.

She took a bite of her pancake, suppressing the urge to curl her nose in distaste. She _really _didn't like chocolate chip pancakes.

"I thought," her mother began, drawing Annie's attention to her once more, "that you and I might take a trip back home for a while. We could stay with your aunt Sylvie. What do you think?"

Annie blinked, staring at her mother incredulously. So that's what this was about.

"This is home," Annie said finally. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her father smirk.

Her mother huffed, rolling her eyes. "I meant back to Louisiana. You'd get to spend time on the beach again. You could maybe even go to school there this year."

The gravity of the situation struck Annie suddenly then. Her mother wasn't talking about a vacation, she was talking about going back to Louisiana and leaving her father here. Annie supposed, if this had come a year earlier she might have even been upset at the prospect of her family splitting up, but the truth of the matter was that her family hadn't even really been together since Amy had died.

No, now it was the thought of leaving her friends that had Annie's grip tightening on the handle of her fork. How could she leave the others?

"My friends are here," Annie said finally.

This was very obviously not what her mother wanted to hear. She set her fork down onto her plate with a loud _clang _and glared at her daughter.

"Your cousins are in Louisiana," she pointed out, trying to stay calm.

"My cousins are strangers," Annie shot back immediately before turning to look at her father. "Do I have to go?"

"No," he replied instantly, though her mother looked like she had something very different to say on the matter. "You can stay here if you want."

"Good," Annie nodded. "Because I want to stay here. _I don't want to go." _She added, looking at her mother, just in case she had not made herself clear the first time.

There was a beat of silence in which her mother stared at her and Annie stared right back, jaw set, thinking suddenly that she had the whole 'stubborn teenage girl' act down pat already.

Once, there had been a time when Annie would have loved to return to Louisiana, but Derry had become her home a long time ago, all the people Annie cared about most in the world were _here, _and Annie wasn't going to be leaving willingly.

"Since when do you gang up against me with him?" She asked snidely.

Ah, so the guilt-tripping was starting now? This was one of her mother's favorite lines of defense, and Annie thought that her mother had probably mastered it long ago.

"I'm not," she said finally, setting her fork down. "I just don't want to go." With that, she stood, already turning away from the table, not waiting for her mother to say anything. "I'm not very hungry."

She started away but paused, turning to look at her mother one more time. "Oh, by the way, chocolate chip pancakes were always _Amy's _favorite. I _hate _them."

* * *

Annie was so absorbed in her thoughts that when she finally arrived at Eddie's house a short while later, she hardly noticed that he and Stan were both waiting for her on Eddie's front steps. It wasn't until Eddie shouted her name that she looked up at them with shock, finally realizing they were there.

"_What?" _

"I asked if you're okay," Eddie told her, sounding concerned. "You looked all spaced out."

"Oh," she blinked, biting her lip and looking away, not making eye contact with her friend. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Eddie didn't look entirely like he believed her but didn't press the matter. Annie was grateful because she wasn't even particularly sure she wanted to talk about it yet.

"What do you think of all this?" Stan asked, guiding his bike over to Annie, Eddie half a step behind him.

They had all agreed to go over to Bill's that day so that they could try to figure out where IT was coming from and Annie thought it was pretty accurate to say that she, Eddie, and Stan were dreading it the most.

She had nearly forgotten with what had happened that morning but now it was brought back to the forefront of her mind. She sighed heavily, shaking her head.

"I think… " she began. trying to figure out the right way to put her worries into words. "I think it _feels _like playing with fire. It seems like it'll be fine at first but sooner or later… "

"Someone will get hurt," Eddie finished for her.

Yes, that was exactly it but Annie didn't think that one of them getting hurt would be enough to deter Bill from the task at hand, so determined was he to get Georgie back.

"Georgie is dead," Annie said. "We know that, right? I mean… I know that and you guys know that?"

It felt almost wrong to be talking about this here, felt a bit like they were betraying Bill, but Annie needed to make sure they were on the same page.

Stan nodded. "Bill is in denial."

"Bill has been in denial for months," Annie added. "The only difference is that now his denial could end up getting one of us hurt. Or worse."

Eddie was looking at her strangely, brow furrowed in deep thought. "So what do we do?" He asked.

Annie didn't have a response for that and only shook her head. "We… get over to Bill's house, I guess. He'll be waiting for us."

That was true, he would be waiting for them, likely pacing around in his garage until all of them showed up. Bill was a man on a mission and, by extension, they were on a mission as well.

"I think I'd rather be in school," Stan said as they began to ride their bikes down the street. "Even classes sound better than this."

This earned snorts of laughter from both Eddie and Annie who were both surprised to hear Stan cracking a joke when the situation felt so tense. Richie, they could count on for it, he was much more the comic relief, but Stan had more of a quiet humor, still funny in his own right, but less likely to start cracking jokes.

When they finally got to Bill's house, they were the last to arrive and, just as Annie had thought he would be, Bill was pacing anxiously in his open garage. When they finally rode into his driveway he perked up, looking slightly annoyed, as if they had kept him waiting, even though they hadn't actually agreed on any set time.

Annie exchanged a look with Eddie and Stan, all three of whom were likely thinking the exact same thing.

_This was not going to be fun. _

"It's a-about time," Bill said as the three of them climbed off of their bikes and headed into the garage, with Bill closing the garage door behind them.

The whole action felt very… final. Like he was sealing them in.

"Sorry," Annie said to him, though she didn't _really _feel sorry. She thought that maybe Bill should be sorry for trying to drag them into this. She thought longingly of the fair only a few nights ago. Things had seemed so… carefree then. They had been able to forget about IT, even if it had only been for a few hours.

Bill moved to tack a map of Derry up on the wall while Ben set up a projector. A moment later, Bev flipped the garage light off, plunging the group into darkness except for the projector, which cast the whole room in an eerie glow.

Annie shifted closer to Eddie.

Ben put one of the slides into the projector, a very old map of Derry.

"Okay," Bill began, moving to stand behind the projector with the rest of them. "Look. Storm drain.

That's where G-Georgie disappeared. There's the Ironworks, and the Black Spot. Everywhere IT happens it's-it's all connected by the sewers."

"And they all meet up at the well-house," Ben continued.

Sure enough, the two maps aligned and showed that the sewer lines intersected at one place in particular. Annie felt her blood run cold.

"You mean the house on Neibolt Street?" Stan asked from Annie's right.

"You mean the creepy-ass house where all the junkies and hobos like to sleep?" Richie scoffed.

"I hate that place," Bev spoke up, rubbing her arms as if she had suddenly gotten the chills. "Always feels like it's watching me."

Eddie's grip on Annie's hand tightened and she glanced at him, seeing the look of fear written on his face. "That's where we saw IT," he said. "That's where Annie and I saw the clown."

"Tha-tha-tha-that's where IT lives."

They all turned to face Bill who had his gaze set determinedly on the map, jaw clench.

_There, _Annie thought. _It's finally out in the air. We know where we can find IT. But IT could always find us. _

This line of thinking made a chill run down her back.

"I hate this," she muttered, squeezing her eyes shut as if it would make it all go away.

Eddie was still gripping her hand tight, almost uncomfortably tight and Annie looked at him again, saw that he was pulling his inhaler from his fanny pack and taking a hit.

"I can't imagine anything ever wanting to live there," Stan mused.

That, it seemed, was enough for Eddie, who stood suddenly, letting go of Annie's hand and striding forward, reaching up and tearing the map down. He turned to face them, breaths coming out in ragged pants.

Annie stood as well, eyes round and concerned as she looked at her friend who was staring at Bill pleadingly.

"Can we stop talking about this?" He asked, words coming out in a rush. "I can barely breathe! It's summer! We're kids! I'm having a fucking asthma attack! And-and fuck doing this!"

"What the hell!" Bill snapped. "Put the map back!"

"No!" Eddie shook his head but froze a moment later when the projector flipped to the next slide without any prompting.

Eddie turned slowly, looking horrified, before backing up to the others, his breaths loud and panicked. Annie reached out automatically, grabbing Eddie's arm and pulling him back towards her.

"_What happened?" _Annie breathed, her throat threatening to close up in terror.

"What's going on?" Stan asked from her other side.

"I don't know, look!" Richie said, pointing as the slide switched once more, displaying a family picture of the Denbroughs all standing in front of a church wearing their Sunday best. It had obviously been pretty windy that day because Mrs. Denbrough's red hair had gotten caught in a breeze that blew her hair up, hiding her face.

It clicked again, the picture switching to a close-up of little Georgie, smiling wide at the camera.

Annie felt like she might be sick. "_Guys… _"

"Georgie," Bill breathed.

It clicked again, the same picture but this time it was Bill's mother in focus. Again, the same scene only a second later with Mrs. Denbrough's hair aloft in a different position. Again and again and again, the images shifting faster and faster so that it appeared as if Mrs. Debrough's hair was _actually _blowing in the breeze.

"_Oh noooo," _Annie moaned, turning to bury her face into Eddie's shoulder. Still, it was almost as if she couldn't help but to peek. As she watched, that vivid red hair parted to reveal the clown's face. IT's face.

"_The clown! The clown!" _

There were equal cries of unease rising up from her friends around her and finally, Richie had the good sense to knock the projector off the stand. The light flashed and then… there was no image.

Annie breathed a sigh of relief, opening her mouth to say something to her friends when in another flash of light IT was suddenly in the room with them! IT was _huge _and seemed to protrude from the light the projector cast on the wall, his mouth stretched wide in a menacing grin revealing rows of wicked sharp teeth.

_Shark teeth! _Annie thought incredulously, a cry of fear caught in her throat. _IT has shark teeth!_

Richie was latched onto Eddie's other side, and moved backward, dragging Eddie with him who, in turn, attempted to drag Annie with them as well. Her foot caught on the chair she had only just been sitting in and she stumbled back, landing on her back and elbows with a cry that was equal parts supplies and equal parts pain.

"_Annie!" _

IT made as if to lunge at her, but she was dragged to her feet by Eddie and Stan who pulled her after them as they rushed towards the garage door, the nearest exit.

_FuckfuckFUCK! _

"_Bill?"_

"_WHAT THE FUCK!"_

"_It's IT!"_

"_WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"_

"_I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!"_

All around there was chaos as the others scrambled to get to some kind of safety. IT aimed a hit at Mike who dived towards the others, landing on his knees at their feet and looking up at IT with wide, terrified eyes. Bev had backed up against the wall, standing apart from the others, and finally, IT turned his attention onto her, lunging at her just as Ben pushed up the garage door, flooding the room with sunlight.

Just like that, IT was gone, leaving no sign of IT's presence.

A low sob wrenched itself free of Annie's chest and suddenly she realized she had been crying. She felt like she was going to be sick. She _was _going to be sick.

Clapping a hand over her mouth, Annie turned and stumbled outside, away from the others, and fell to her knees in the yard, puking into the grass.

"_Annie!" _Suddenly Eddie was rushing over to her, crouching down and placing a hand on her shoulder.

She was still crying, shaking from fear. Slowly, she reached up to wipe at her mouth with the back of her hand before looking at Eddie, eyes wide and round and fearful.

"IT almost got us," she said quietly. "IT _could _have gotten us. I'm scared Eddie… I'm _so _scared."

He was scared too, just as terrified as her. Finally, he rose up to his full height, offering his hand to pull her up as well. Annie rose on shaky legs, turning to face the others.

"IT saw us," Eddie said to Bill. "IT saw us and It knows where we are."

Bill shook his head. "IT always knew," he told them.

The group exchanged equal looks of dismay, but Annie bit her lip nervously. She had already suspected that, hadn't she?

Bill, still facing them, took a deep breath. "Alright, so let's go."

"Go?" Stan gaped at him. "Go where?"

"Neibolt," Bill said matter-of-factly. "That's where G-g-g-Georgie is."

"After that?" Eddie asked, gesturing vaguely back to the garage.

"Yeah," Richie nodded. "It's summer, we should be outside… "

"If you say it's summer one more f-f-f-fucking time!"

"Bill!" Annie snapped. He looked at her in surprise. "We almost just died! Please… don't ask us to go. _Please._"

Bill gave them all a once over, looking disgusted, before turning and grabbing his bike, hopping on and riding away before any of them could stop him.

"Bill?" Bev called, making as if to run after him. "Wait!"

She turned to look at the others, glaring as if they had done something wrong. "We have to go after him!" She said. "He's gonna get himself killed."

"Yeah," Richie agreed miserably. "And he's gonna get us all killed with him."

But Bev had a very good point and, whether they liked it or not, the others agreed that they had little choice but to go after their friend.

_He's making us do this, _Annie thought as the group hurriedly began to pedal down the street. _Whether he means to or not, he's making us do this. _

They finally caught up to Bill as he was mounting the steps of the Neibolt house, Silver laid out on the front lawn carelessly.

"_Bill!" _Bev called, making the boy turn to face them. "Bill, you can't go in there!"

They reached the house, all of them getting off of their bikes and letting them drop to the lawn next to Silver.

"This is crazy!" Richie told their friend as they approached.

Bill sighed heavily. "Look," he began. "You don't have to come in with me, but what happens when another Georgie goes missing, or another Betty or another Ed Corcoran or one of us? Are you just going to pretend it didn't happen like everyone else in this town? Because I can't. I go home and all I see is that Georgie isn't there, his clothes, his toys, his stupid stuffed animals but he isn't. So walking into this house for me… it's easier than walking into my own."

He had set himself on a good long monologue and now stood, panting as he stared at them as if imploring them to believe the gravity of his words, before turning to head into the house once more.

"Wow," Richie breathed.

"What?" Mike asked.

"He didn't stutter once." And with that, Richie moved to follow after their friend.

Annie turned to exchange an alarmed look with Stan as the boy started to back away, eyes wide.

"Wait!" he cried, making the others turn to face him. "Uhhh, shouldn't we have some people keep watch, just in case something bad happens?"

Bill seemed to consider this for a moment before looking at the rest of them. "Wh-wh-wh-who wants to stay out here?"

And then, in unison, everyone present, excluding Bill and Bev, raised their hand, all of them equally terrified to set foot in this decrepit old house.

Richie looked at everyone else's hands before groaning and shaking his head. _"Fuck!"_

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S**_** NOTE:**** So I know this is a week late but with the holidays I was pretty busy and I didn't want my schedule to be thrown so I decided it would be better to just wait a week. In any case, here's chapter eight and I hope you guys are enjoying it so far! As always, please leave a review to let me know what you guys think!**


	10. Neibolt

_**Neibolt**_

There were only three short straws, and it was hard to believe that both Annie and Eddie had drawn two of them.

Bill stood on the porch, looking down at the proceedings with the air of a general about to march his soldiers off to war.

Richie, who had drawn the other short straw, grimaced slightly, looking up at Annie and Eddie as if expecting one of them to object.

Annie stared helplessly down at her own straw, laid flat in her palm, her stomach churning dangerously once more.

"Annie," Eddie put his hand on her arm, making her look up with a start. "You don't have to."

She furrowed her brow, looking at him in confusion, before looking back down at her straw, evidence that she did, in fact, have to go.

"He's right," Mike spoke up. "One of us will go." But even as he said it, his tone suggested that he _really _didn't want to go in.

Bev opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to do something really stupid like offer to go in Annie's place.

Annie chanced a glance up at Bill who was shifting impatiently.

Annie shook her head. "I'm going."

She knew the reason they were willing to let stay behind was because she was a girl which was _stupid. _If one of the boys had drawn this straw they definitely would have made him go.

"Annie-" Eddie began, but she cut him off.

"Eddie you're going in there," she told him. "So _I'm _going in there. That's just the way it is."

Eddie sighed but seemed resigned to the fact that there would be no talking her out of this. "Geez, Annie… "

She offered him what she hoped was a reassuring grin that elicited a gag of disgust from Richie.

"Get a room you two," he said snidely.

Eddie flushed, turning to glare at their friend. "Shut _up, _Richie!"

The other boy snickered and then, just like that, whatever lightheartedness they had somehow managed to generate was gone.

Richie swallowed. "I don't guess any of you guys want to offer to take my place and let me stay out here."

There were, predictably, no such offers and the three of them finally moved to join Bill on the porch. As they began to head into the house, Annie hesitated, turning to glance back at their friends, wondering if this would be the last time she ever got to see them.

_Don't think about it, _Annie thought determinedly, Almost as if on reflex, Annie reached forward to take Eddie's hand, just as they entered the house, the door creaking closed ominously behind them.

Annie glanced over her shoulder to look at it, certain that she hadn't touched it or done anything to make it close.

"Annie?" Eddie tugged lightly on her hand and she turned back to find the others looking at her in concern. She shook her head quickly.

"It's nothing," she said, not wanting to seem like a chickenshit, even though she _felt _like a chickenshit.

The inside of the house looked much how Annie thought it would, dirty and dusty and _smelly. _

"Fuck," Richie shook his head slowly, disbelievingly. "I can't believe I pulled the short straw. You guys are lucky we're not measuring dicks."

"Beep beep, Richie," Annie replied, not missing a beat.

They moved further into the house, peering carefully into the rooms that split off on either side of the entrance hallway. To the right was what Annie thought had once been a living room. A threadbare blanket laid in one corner, atop of which was what appeared to be an old, stained Penthouse magazine (Richie had stolen enough of these from his father to show them that Annie could identify one even from across a room). Mold had begun to crawl up the walls, staining what had once been rich red walls with dark spots. Over the fireplace was a large sign that read _'Good Cheer'_.

Annie wasn't sure about that these days, but she could see the shell of what had once been a beautiful house. And yet… somehow the whole place had a dark, dangerous feel.

"Do you smell that?" Eddie asked, glancing back at her.

The distinct and unmistakable smell of must and something worse, something _rotting. _Annie curled her nose in disgust and nodded.

"Don't breathe through your mouth," Richie advised.

"How come?"

"'Cause then you're eating it."

Eddie gagged, sending Richie a glare but the other boy had stepped into the doorway of the room opposite the living room and froze. Slowly he stepped further inside and the others trailed after him.

This room was in even worse shape than the living room, with a busted in window through which a bush had begun to grow through, the branches gnarled and twisted and covered in thorns. A piece of paper had been caught in the thorns, and Richie now reached forward carefully to pull it free.

He raised it close to his eyes, trying to see it through the dim lighting, His eyes, already magnified behind his thick glasses, stretched even bigger.

_He looks scared, _Annie thought which was strange because nothing ever seemed to scare Richie, not really. _Except for what happened in the garage earlier. _That had sure scared him. That had scared _all _of them.

"Richie?" She prompted, tone gentle. "What's wrong?"

"It-it says I'm missing," he closed his eyes tight and then opened them again, almost like he had hoped that doing so would make all of this go away.

He turned the paper so that the others could see what was clearly a missing kid flyer. Sure enough, it was Richie's face plastered on the front.

It was amazing how something so small, so _simple_, could freak somebody out so badly. And yet, looking down at that simple piece of paper, Annie had to admit that it was scary, how easily something could happen to one of them to cause them to go missing.

"Y-y-y-you're not missing, Richie," Bill said, hand on Richie's shoulder as he tried to calm down their friend who was now clearly panicking. Annie had to admire that about Bill, his ability to stay calm in the face of distress.

"That's what it says here," Richie snapped, shaking the paper violently. "It's my shirt! That's my hair! That's my face!"

Eddie's grip tightened on Annie and she looked up to see him watching Richie with a clear look of despair. Without taking his eyes off of their friend he reached into his fanny pack to retrieve his inhaler before bringing it to his mouth and taking a hit.

"Calm down," Bill said, still cool as a cucumber. "This isn't real."

Still not entirely convinced that that was the best argument that could be made, Annie nodded at Richie, offering him a reassuring smile. Whatever it took to get him to calm down.

"_That's my name! That's my age! That's the date! What the fuck? It says I'm missing! Am I missing? Will I disappear?"_

He was nearly hyperventilating now, sounding much the same as Eddie did when he was having an asthma attack.

They had hardly taken ten steps into the house and already this whole operation was falling apart.

Unsure of what else to do, Annie reached forward and grabbed the flyer, balling it up and throwing it over her shoulder, just as simple as that. Just another piece of trash decorating the floor.

Richie looked up at her in surprise and Annie gave one firm nod. "Richie," she said. "You're here, okay? You're with us. None of us are going to go missing."

"Right," Bill said immediately. "This _isn't _real. IT's playing tricks on you."

"Besides," Annie added, trying to lighten the mood. "If IT took you, you would just annoy IT so much that IT would bring you back."

A loud thump from above had all four of them jumping, tilting their heads back warily to look up at the ceiling.

"I guess you probably want to go up there to check out that noise, huh?" Annie looked at Bill.

That, she figured, probably went without saying. Of course, he would want to go _towards _the scary noise. Why wouldn't he?

"Shit," Richie sighed heavily as Bill started towards the stairs.

He turned to give Eddie and Annie a helpless look but there was nothing to be done about it.

"It's a squirrel," Annie whispered as they began to follow after Bill. "Or a raccoon. Or like… a deer."

Anything would be better than what Annie was thinking it might be, which was something _really fucking scary. _

_No spiders,_ she thought. _Or like… land sharks. Anything but those. _

They had reached the landing of the stairs and were now looking down a long hallway. At the end of the hallway, a door stood open, revealing a girl lying on the floor, looking dirty and disheveled.

"Oh god," Annie breathed. "Is that Betty Ripsom?"

The girl raised her head, looking down the hall at them, her eyes wide and terrified. "Hello? Hello? _Help me please!_"

And then, just like that, she was pulled out of sight with a gut-wrenching scream, and it was only Eddie's hand in hers that kept Annie from turning and bolting back down the stairs.

"Betty?" Bill rushed forward, Richie half a step behind him, but Eddie and Annie followed at a slower, more cautious pace.

None of this felt right. It all felt like… what?

There was a word there, something that Annie could not quite put her finger on.

_Better figure it out quick, _she thought. _You might be dead if you don't. _

"_Annie?" _

She paused, turning her head slightly when she heard someone calling her name. Eddie continued to move forward, his hand slipping out of her's.

"_Annie… please. Help me!" _

Yes, she recognized that voice, knew that voice well.

Turning fully, she peered into one of the bedrooms to her right, heart pounding in her chest.

She knew that voice, yes, but logically she _knew _that she should _not _be hearing it right now, knew that the owner of that voice was dead and buried.

And yet there she stood in the middle of that dank old bedroom, appearing as she had the last time Annie had seen her, in the same soft, blue dress she had been buried in, a wig of blonde curls placed upon her head.

"_Amy?" _

Perhaps it was the sheer desire to have her baby sister back, or maybe it was years of protective older sibling instincts kicking in, but suddenly Annie was moving forward into the room despite that logical little voice in her head screaming at her that Amy was dead.

"Annie?!" Eddie called after her, but as soon as she cleared the frame, the door slammed shut behind her, plunging her into darkness, except for the small amount of sunlight filtering in through the dirty curtains still hung up in the window.

She couldn't see anything, not really, and a cold feeling of terror washed down Annie's spine.

"Amy?" She called, furrowing her brows as she tried to see through the darkness.

A small giggle came in response, but it certainly didn't come from her sister.

"_Annie!" _She heard Eddie call her name again and whipped around to face the door, automatically reaching to open it only to find that there was no doorknob there, only smooth wood.

_A trap, _she realized. _It feels like a trap!_

"_Eddie!" _She called her friend's name, slamming helplessly on the door with her palms.

He didn't respond and, a moment later, she heard her friend's cry of fear.

"_EDDIE!" _

She tried slamming her shoulder into the door as if that would do anything, but Annie was too small to really have any effect and all she got for her trouble was an aching shoulder.

Where were the others? Where was Richie? And Bill? They would make sure Eddie was alright, wouldn't they? And then they would come to retrieve Annie from this room and-

She heard that giggle again from behind her and turned around, facing the darkness once more.

"Amy," She called out shakily, though she knew now, for sure, that that had _not _been Amy.

"_Annie," _A horrible voice rasped, sending a chill up Annie's spine. And then a hand wrapped around her ankle and she let loose a scream that rivaled every single one that she had ever heard from a horror movie.

Looking down, she was able to make out Amy but this was _not _the Amy she had seen moments before. This Amy was _horrible. _Her skin had taken on a sickly pallor and one eye was missing now. Annie could see where maggots had been feasting on her flesh. She smiled up at Annie and all of her teeth were blackened and rotting.

And her hand, her goddamned hand with it's rotting skin and yellowed nails was wrapped around Annie's ankle.

"_No!" _Annie yelled, trying to pull her leg free and move away at the same time, but Amy had a vice grip on her and all Annie managed to do was crash to the ground. _"No!" _

"Why do you get to live?" Amy rasped, peering up at Annie with terrible dead eyes. "Why do _you _get to live but I had to die? It's not _fair!" _She began to crawl up Annie's body and the smell of her suddenly reached Annie's nose, making her gag. This was what that rotting smell was, it had been Amy.

"Mommy and Daddy loved me more! _You _should have died Annie. They would be happier if _you _had died. Nobody wants _you _around, not Mommy or Daddy or Bill or Eddie. But it's okay, Annie Bell because once you're down here with me you'll float. We all float down here, Annie!"

She was face to face with Annie, peering down at her with a sickly grin, and Annie sobbed, feeling tears flood down her cheeks. Amy was right, of course, and hadn't Annie always suspected it? Everybody had always loved Amy and Annie was just her big sister. The others only hung out with her because they felt sorry for her. Bill didn't even like her, had never liked her. And Eddie-

_No! _Eddie was her best friend, her _best _best friend. Even when Annie had thought she couldn't depend on anyone else, she could depend on Eddie. Everything else might have been true, but not that. _Never _that.

But it was so _hard _to keep that one good thought at the forefront of her mind when Amy was bearing down on her, wrapping one hand around Annie's neck and tightening it.

Her grip, surprisingly strong, kept tightening, and no matter how Annie tried to draw in a breath she couldn't. This was it, this was how she was going to die. The world around her began to darken, black spots flashing across Annie's vision and she could feel herself slipping away.

And there, through the darkness, there was one clear thought, bright as the flame of a candle. This was it, this would be her saving grace. She's not real, Annie thought desperately. _She's not real. Don't think about it. Think of something else, _anything _else. _

But what? Movies? Books? Music? She was grasping at straws but suddenly the idea of music took hold. Annie _loved _music, had _always _loved music, couldn't sleep without a vinyl playing on her record player. She just needed something to calm her down, to make her think straight because this _wasn't _real. Bill had said so and, more importantly, Stan had said so and Stan was always coolly logical.

"_There's a port on a western bay," _Annie began, her voice raspy and barely audible due to the hand closing around her throat, but as she began to sing her favorite song something shifted. _"And it serves a hundred ships a day. Lonely sailors pass the time away and talk about their homes." _

She kept her eyes firmly shut as that stifling fear began to recede, leaving Annie with a sense of calm. That awful grip on her throat slowly let go but still, Annie didn't open her eyes.

_"And there's a girl in this harbor town and she works layin' whiskey down, they say, Brandy, fetch another round, she serves them whiskey and wine."  
_

A distant cry of fear had Annie's eyes flashing open and she sat up, looking around the room. It was considerably lighter now, and Amy was gone. Annie's head hurt like hell, and her throat ached something awful, but she was alive. Somehow, miraculously, she was alive.

There came that cry of fear again, one that Annie recognized, and suddenly she was scrambling to her feet, rushing over to the door.

_Eddie! _

The doorknob had returned, she saw, and she turned it now, wrenching it open to reveal that long hallway. She could hear Eddie's screams of fear now and didn't waste a second rushing out into that hall and down the stairs, thinking of nothing but getting to her best friend.

"Eddie!" She yelled, following the sounds into the kitchen.

She froze in the doorway, eyes widening as she processed exactly what it was she was seeing.

Eddie laid on his back, looking miserable and terrified, while that awful clown stood over him, lips pulled back into a dangerous smile to reveal wicked sharp teeth.

_He's trying to eat him, _Annie realized, a sick feeling churning in her gut.

Not Eddie! _Not _Eddie!

"_NO!" _Annie roared, reaching down to seize a piece of drywall that had fallen to the floor in crumbled bits and chucking it at that damned clown. It hit him squarely in the back of the head.

The clown turned slowly to look at Annie, sizing her up. "Be patient Annie Bell," he told her. "You're next."

"_NO!" _Annie yelled again, shaking her head. "_LEAVE HIM ALONE! LEAVE ALL OF US ALONE!" _

And then, not knowing what else to do, she grabbed another piece of drywall and threw it again, this time hitting him on the forehead.

This seemed to piss the clown off, who rose to his feet, forgetting about Eddie for the moment in favor of more annoying prey.

"Annie, no!" Eddie yelled, but Annie ignored him, skirting around the edge of the kitchen, keeping her eyes set on that damned clown. She didn't know quite what she was doing, but she knew she had distracted him from Eddie and that's what mattered.

"You think you're scary?" Annie asked, raising her chin high, trying to appear tough, trying to appear bigger than she actually was. "Fucking _Ronald McDonald _is scarier than you, motherfucker!"

IT lunged at Annie suddenly, making her yelp in surprise and fear and pain as IT shoved her back against the wall hard by the throat, making it difficult to breathe.

"_ANNIE!" _

Before IT could do anything worse though, IT froze, looking slowly up at the ceiling. A moment later came the sound of thundering footsteps and Bill and Richie entered the room, looking in shock at the clown who turned ITs head to look at them, huffing as if they had upset IT.

"This isn't real enough for you, Billy?" IT asked, his tone light and simpering. "I'm not real enough for you?"

"Holy shit!"

"_It was real enough for Georgie!" _With that, IT released Annie, allowing her to slump to the floor, sucking in a desperate breath as IT lunged at Bill and Richie. Before IT could reach them, Bev burst in through the back door, the others close behind, and swung an iron fencing rod into ITs head, effectively stopping IT in ITs tracks.

The group hurried into the room, half of them hurrying over to check on Eddie while the other half rushed to Annie's side, even as she tried to shuffle over to Eddie's side, thinking only of getting to her friend and making sure he was okay.

"Get Eddie! Get Annie!" Someone yelled. Stan and Mike crouched down next to Annie, gripping her by the arms and helping her to her feet. She immediately shrugged them off, hurrying to Eddie's side.

"Eddie," she said his name softly, falling to her knees at his side and reaching for him, eyes brimming with tears. They had gotten separated and look at what happened. They had both nearly died.

IT had straightened up now and turned to face them, lumbering forward as if to head towards Bev, who had backed into a corner, eyes round with terror. Suddenly IT lashed out to IT's left, slashing Ben across his belly, letting loose with a deranged sort of giggle before beginning to back out of the room, giving them a flourishing bow as IT went.

"Let's get outta here!" Mike yelled.

That was not as easy as it sounded, however. For the first time, Annie noticed that Eddie's arm was bent at an unnatural angle and Ben was bleeding profusely from his stomach. Her own throat throbbed painfully. They had been put through the wringer and, if that wasn't enough, Bill rushed after IT as IT disappeared down the hallway.

"Bill _NO!" _Eddie yelled at him, clearly hurt and in pain.

"_Eddie," _Annie breathed again, trying to draw his attention back to her. He looked up at her with wide eyes, and she pressed her forehead against his, drawing in a sharp breath. "I'm sorry," she told him. _"I'm sorry!" _

This was all her fault. If she hadn't foolishly gone chasing after her dead baby sister then she and Eddie wouldn't have been separated. Eddie might not have gotten hurt then.

"_BILL!" _One of the others yelled. _"We need to go!"_

Richie came rushing over to crouch on Eddie's other side, just as Bill came running back into the kitchen, seeming out of breath.

"I'm going to snap your arm back into place," Richie told Eddie who turned to look at him as if he were crazy, shaking his head vigorously.

"Don't fucking touch me!" He snapped, but this didn't seem to deter Richie who gripped Eddie's arm firmly.

"One, two, three… "

"Richie, don't!" Annie cried but it was too late and he jerked his hands, causing Eddie's arm to give a loud, painful sound.

Eddie gasped, eyes widening in pain as he lurched forward, trying to pull his arm from Richie's grasp.

"We have to go! Now!" Stan told them, and she was inclined to agree, getting to her feet and helping to pull Eddie up as well, who leaned against the others heavily. Together, the group managed to maneuver him outside and back around to where they had left their bikes.

The sooner they got there, the sooner they could leave, and Annie would be happy to never see this fucking house again.

* * *

Eddie's mother turned to face them, nostrils flaring with anger as she pointed an accusing finger at them. Reflexively, Annie shrunk back.

"You, you did this!" The woman snapped. "You know how delicate he is!"

She turned back to Eddie, ushering him into the station wagon before slamming the door shut behind him. The boy stared miserably out the window at his friends.

Annie felt as if she might start crying any second now, and if she had it her way she would be riding to the hospital with them. But Mrs. Kasprak would never let that happen, especially not now.

"We were attacked, Mrs. K!" Bill told her, but she shook her head sharply.

"No! Don't try to blame anyone else!"

"Mrs. Kaspbrak, I would _never _do anything to hurt Eddie," Annie told her earnestly, clasping her hands together over her chest, almost as if she were begging the woman to believe her.

Mrs. Kaspbrak scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You think I don't know all about girls like you, Miss Jackson?" She asked. Annie shrunk slightly under her intense glare. "You've been trying to steal Eddie from me since you met him!"

Annie wasn't sure what was with this delusion Mrs. Kaspbrak had that Annie was trying to take Eddie from her, but she had _hated _Annie ever since they first met. Now, she probably felt like that hate was well-placed.

Mrs. Kaspbrak pulled her keys from her pocket and began to fumble through them, trying to find the right one, but before she could, she accidentally dropped it. Bev started forward to grab them for her.

"_Get back!_" Mrs. Kaspbrak snapped, making Bev flinch back. She sneered down at the redhead. "Oh, I've heard of you, Miss Marsh… and I don't want a dirty girl like you touching my son."

She started around to the driver's side of the car and Bill made as if to follow her, still trying to explain everything.

"Mrs. K, I-"

"No!" She glared at Bill, stopping him in his tracks. "You are all monsters, all of you! Now Eddie's done with you! You hear? _Done!_"

And with that she climbed into the car and sped off, leaving the group to stare after it. Annie felt like her heart had shattered. Would Eddie listen to her? Would he _blame _them for getting hurt? What if-

"I saw the well," Bill said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to him. W-w-w-w-we know where it is

and next time we'll be better prepared."

Annie narrowed her eyes slowly. Was Bill implying that they try to fight IT again?

"_NO!_" Stan yelled, catching everybody by surprise. "No next time, Bill. You're insane!"

"Why?" Bev scoffed, looking at him incredulously. "We all know nobody else is going to do anything!"

"W-we can go back and s-s-stop IT before anybody else gets hurt," Bill added.

"No."

Everyone turned to face Annie, who stood there glaring at Bill, jaw clenched. She couldn't recall ever being so angry in her life. First Bill forced their hand, gave them little choice but to follow him into that hell hole. Then Eddie had nearly gotten killed and he was suggesting they do it _again. _

"IT nearly got Eddie," Annie continued, her voice quivering with barely suppressed anger. "Do you understand that, Bill? Eddie would be _dead _now if I hadn't gotten to him. Hell, I nearly died and you want us to go _back? _No. Absolutely not!"

"A-Annie we have to-"

"We _don't!" _She shook her head, clenching her hands into fists. "We don't have to do anything. You only want us to go in there because you think you'll get Georgie back but you _won't _Bill, and you're only going to get the rest of us killed too!"

"I k-know your scared Annie but-"

"_Eat a dick, Denbrough!" _Annie snapped, making him recoil slightly in shock. The others watched her with wide eyes as well. "Of course I'm scared. We're all scared. This thing has nearly killed me _four _fucking times Bill and it almost got Eddie and I can't- I can't-" She broke off, getting all choked up. She swept her arm harshly across her eyes, wiping away unshed tears, before striding past the others to retrieve her bike.

"Fuck you, Bill!" She said as she swung her leg over.

"Annie, where are you going? We need to-"

"I'm going to the hospital." She told them, not making eye contact. And then, without looking back, she began to pedal away, leaving her friends in her wake.

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**___**So this is actually one of my fave chapters and I'm super pleased that it's finally posted so please, let me know what you guys think! As always a big thank you to everyone who has followed or reviewed this story!**


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